Difference between revisions of "History of Chinese Literature"

This is a collaborative scholarly book project hosted on Chinese Studies Wiki. Registered authors and editors can contribute to individual chapters. See Books for more information about the book platform.

Status: ⚙ In Progress(2026)

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-History of Chinese Literature
+{{Book Nav|book=History_of_Chinese_Literature}}
+__NOTOC__
-This is the website for the History of Chinese Literature in 1 vol. For the other projects on Chinese Literature, please refer to the other websites:
+<div style="text-align: center; margin: 20px 0;">
-*[[History of Chinese Literature in 3 vols.]]
+<span style="font-size: 2em; font-weight: bold;">History of Chinese Literature</span>
-*[[History of Chinese Literature in 12 vols.]]
-*[[History of Chinese Literature in 100 vols.]]
-Introduction
+<span style="font-size: 1.5em;">&#x4E2D;&#x56FD;&#x6587;&#x5B66;&#x53F2;</span>
-It was often claimed that the cultural space very much in the region what is called China today (and what we will call "China" too in this book as a reference point) did not have a genuine History of Chinese Literature until it was introduced to them by Japanese and later Western authors. However, there were extensive Histories of Chinese Literature in China itself, including collections of literature considered "top" or "representative", prefaces to these collections describing literary history, manuals on how to write literature including classifications of literature. Also there was a rich history on literature reviews, e.g. the xiaopinwen. The development of genres was described in #. There was a constant reevaluation of literary genres, very early with Feng Menglong and Li Liweng, but also by Wang Guowei, Lu Xun and others. Very influential was Lu Xun's A Short History of Chinese literature, which valued novels highly, and later C.T.Hsia's #.
+<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">From Oracle Bones to Artificial Intelligence — Three Millennia of Sinophone Literary Creation</span>
-A Metaphor for Chinese Literature
+<span style="font-size: 1.1em;">'''Martin Woesler'''</span>
-Many metaphors for Chinese Literature were used by colleagues, like a river etc. It flows for a long time, it has an established bed but is able to move its bed over a long time. It also carries always new water, which goes through the old channels. However, this metaphor does not fit for the masterpieces of literature, which stay. Also the culmulativity of literature is not captchured. In my view, the best metaphor is a tree, since there not everything is totally exchanged like the water in the river, but there are branches, which stay and become larger and build the foundation for new branches. Literature is cumulative, it is not possible to produce literature without learning a language, therefore naturally learning the culture and literary traditions. Even if the author somehow happens to be ignorant of earlier literature or wants to be totally innovative, the readers still know the literary tradition and will read the work against their background knowledge.
+Hunan Normal University
-Between subjectivity and objectivity
+European University Press, 2026
+</div>
-Histories of literature need to be selective. The reader expects to get introduced to representative works. The author wants to give the history a personal touch and therefore may concentrate on the literature he likes himself and may ignore other genres or works.
+<div style="background: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; padding: 15px; margin: 20px 0;">
+<span style="font-size: 1.3em; font-weight: bold;">Table of Contents</span>
-==Chapter 1==
+'''[[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Part_I|PART I: FOUNDATIONS AND ORIGINS]]'''
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_1|Chapter 1: Prologue — What Is "Chinese Literature"?]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_2|Chapter 2: Before Writing — Oral Traditions, Myth, and Ritual Origins]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_3|Chapter 3: The Book of Songs and the Birth of the Poetic Tradition]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_4|Chapter 4: The Elegies of Chu and the Southern Lyric Tradition]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_5|Chapter 5: The Hundred Schools — Philosophy as Literature]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_6|Chapter 6: Historical Writing as Literary Art — From Zuozhuan to Shiji]]
+'''[[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Part_II|PART II: THE CLASSICAL IMPERIAL TRADITION]]'''
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_7|Chapter 7: Han Dynasty Literature — Empire, Expansion, and the Encyclopedic Impulse]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_8|Chapter 8: The Age of Disunion — Literary Self-Consciousness and Aesthetic Autonomy]]
+'''[[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Part_III|PART III: THE GOLDEN AGES — TANG AND SONG]]'''
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_9|Chapter 9: Early and High Tang Poetry — From Palace Style to the Grandeur of Empire]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_10|Chapter 10: Du Fu, the Late Tang, and Poetry in an Age of Catastrophe]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_11|Chapter 11: Tang Prose, Fiction, and the Chuanqi Revolution]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_12|Chapter 12: Song Dynasty Literature I — Ci Poetry, Neo-Confucianism, and the Inner Turn]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_13|Chapter 13: Song Dynasty Literature II — Southern Song, Patriotic Poetry, and the Novel in Embryo]]
+'''[[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Part_IV|PART IV: THE AGE OF DRAMA AND FICTION]]'''
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_14|Chapter 14: Yuan Drama — The Golden Age of Chinese Theater]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_15|Chapter 15: The Birth of the Chinese Novel — From Storyteller's Art to Printed Epic]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_16|Chapter 16: Late Ming Literature — Individualism, Sentiment, and the Jin Ping Mei Revolution]]
+'''[[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Part_V|PART V: EARLY MODERN TRANSFORMATIONS]]'''
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_17|Chapter 17: Qing Dynasty Literature I — Conquest, Nostalgia, and the Scholarly Novel]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_18|Chapter 18: Qing Dynasty Literature II — Popular Culture, Regional Theater, and Women's Writing]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_19|Chapter 19: Late Qing and the Shock of Modernity]]
+'''[[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Part_VI|PART VI: THE MODERN REVOLUTION]]'''
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_20|Chapter 20: The May Fourth Movement and the Literary Revolution]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_21|Chapter 21: Revolution, War, and Literature in the Service of the Nation]]
+'''[[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Part_VII|PART VII: LITERATURE UNDER SOCIALISM AND ITS AFTERMATH]]'''
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_22|Chapter 22: Literature of the People's Republic I — Socialist Realism and Its Discontents]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_23|Chapter 23: The Cultural Revolution and Its Literary Legacy]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_24|Chapter 24: The "New Era" — Scar Literature, Root-Seeking, and the Avant-Garde]]
+'''[[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Part_VIII|PART VIII: CONTEMPORARY AND GLOBAL SINOPHONE LITERATURE]]'''
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_25|Chapter 25: Post-1989 Literature in the PRC — Market, Memory, and the Long Novel]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_26|Chapter 26: Taiwan Literature — From Nativist Debate to a Polyphonic Tradition]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_27|Chapter 27: Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asian Sinophone Literature]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_28|Chapter 28: Chinese Diaspora Literature and World Literature]]
+'''[[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Part_IX|PART IX: CROSS-CUTTING THEMES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS]]'''
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_29|Chapter 29: The Chinese Poetic Tradition — Continuities and Transformations]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_30|Chapter 30: Chinese Literary Criticism and Aesthetics]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_31|Chapter 31: Literature, Politics, and Censorship — The Eternal Entanglement]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_32|Chapter 32: Translation, Cultural Exchange, and the Shaping of Chinese Literature]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_33|Chapter 33: Printing, Publishing, and the Material Culture of Literature]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_34|Chapter 34: Digital Literature and AI-Generated Writing]]
+: [[History_of_Chinese_Literature/Chapter_35|Chapter 35: Conclusion — Chinese Literature in World Perspective]]
+</div>
+<div style="background: #eaf3ff; border: 1px solid #a7d0f2; padding: 15px; margin: 20px 0;">
+<span style="font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold;">About This Project</span>
+This is a collaborative scholarly book project hosted on Chinese Studies Wiki. Registered authors and editors can contribute to individual chapters. See [[Books]] for more information about the book platform.
+'''Status:''' {{Review Status|status=in progress|date=2026}}
+</div>
+[[Category:Books]]
+[[Category:History of Chinese Literature]]

Difference between revisions of "History of Chinese Literature"

Latest revision as of 18:28, 16 April 2026

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