CHINESE LITERATURE

Francis A. Valentin III

Presentor
INTRODUCTION TO CHINESE HISTORY, CULTURES,
TRADITIONS AND FAMOUS PEOPLE OF CHINA

About China:
 The Republic of China has an area of 9,
600, 000 million sq. km. approximately
and the capital city of China is Beijing.
 The administration of China has 23
provinces, 5 autonomous region, 4
municipalities and 2 special
administrative regions.
 Chinese language has over 20,000
characters the average Chinese only
learns about 5000 of these in his
lifetime.
 The famous landmark in China is the
Great Wall of China (also known as the
“Ten Thousand Li Wall”. One Li is
equals to 500 meters, the walls is over
1,500 miles in length, this is one of the
Seven Wonders of the World.
 Mandarin is the official language, the
religions and beliefs of Chinese people are
Islam, Catholicism, and Protestant. There
are also Atheists who doesn’t believe in God.
 Currency and monetary unit:
Renminbi/Yuan
 Form of government: system of national
people’s congress administrative
demarcations: 23 provinces, 5 autonomous
regions, 4municipalities, and 2 special
administrative regions Chinese.
TRADITION AND CULTURE

 Wedding in China: The brides wedding gown is

often red, as are the wedding invitations, and
wedding gift boxes or envelopes for cash gifts.
Even the bride and grooms homes are
decorated in red on the wedding day. Chinese
wedding traditions: Red is central to the
wedding theme of China. It signifies love, joy
and prosperity and is used in a variety of ways
in Chinese wedding traditions. Red is the
Color of Weddings in China.
ACTIVITIES

 Fireworks display visiting and greeting,

Yankee dancing, lion and dragon
dancing, holding temple fairs and many
other great folklore-inspection events.
 Chinese New Year Date: The first day of
a year in lunar calendar, usually between
late January and early February.
 Common expressions heard at this time
are: GUONIAN to have made it through
the old year, and BAINIAN to
congratulate the New Year. This was a
time for the Chinese to congratulate
each other and themselves on having
passed through another year, a time to
finish out the old, and to welcome in the
New Year.
Chinese Literature

 The principal genre of Chinese

literature is poetry
 Chinese Literature is one of the most
major literacy with an interrupted
history and more than 30,000 years,
dating back at least to the 14th
century.
Four Classes of Literature

1. The Chinese Classical Literature

(1644- 1911) - refers to the earliest period
and covers works from 3,000 years ago to
the late Qing dynasty and is virtually
unbroken strands enduring dynastic
changes. Written in ancient form of
language that is very different from
present day Chinese, it needs to be
carefully studied to be understood.
2. Chinese Modern Literature - refers to
the period from the Opium War in 1840 to
the may fourth movement in 1919. *Opium
War- this is the war between two wars in
the mid-19th century involving Anglo
Chinese dispute over the British. - people
observed the impact of Western thought as
foreigners poured China and established
their colonies, novels, poetry and other
works begun to appear with the theme o
patriotism and revelation of social
literature.
3. Contemporary Literature (1919-
1949) - spanned period from 1919 to
the foundation of modern in 1949
and took on a new vigor despite the
fact that Chinese was in the
checkered and complicated times.
4. Present Age Literature (1949- present)
- evolved since the establishments of the
People’s Republic in 1949 during this
time. - there was a Logjam as a
consequence of the cultural resolution
that lasted for near 10 years that era is
now long past and we now have a
favorable turn events and a great
number of responsible written works.
Famous People

1. Sun-Yat-Sen: was a Chinese revolutionary

and first president and founding father of
the Republic of China, and the ‘forerunner of
democratic revolution’ in the People’s
Republic of China. He develops a political
philosophy known as the three principles of
the People: Nationalism, Democracy and the
people’s livelihood.
2. Chiang Kai-shek: was a political and
military leader of the 20th century. He led
the northern expedition to unify the
country. Chiang ruled the island as the
self-appointed President of the Republic
of China and Director-General of the
Kuomintang until his death in 1975.
3. Mao Zedong: popularly known as Mao
Tse-tung was a Chinese communist
revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist,
a leader of the Chinese Revolution. The
founding father of the People ’s Republic of
China and held authoritarian control over
the nation until his death.
4. Jiang Zemin: a former Chinese
politician, who served as General
Secretary of the Communist party of
China. He was describe as the ‘core of the
third generation’ of Communist Party
leaders.
 CONFUCIUS
 Confucius is a Chinese Teacher, editor,
politician and philosopher of the spring and
autumn period of Chinese history.
 Proponent of Confucianism
 Was born 28 of September 551 BC, KONG
QUI the 1st name and died 479 BC.
 He is the founder of Confucianism, his
philosophy emphasized personal and
governmental morality, correctness of social
relationships, justice and sincerity.
 He recommends family as a basis for local
government.
 He embrace the well-known principle
“Do not do unto others what you don’t
want others to do unto you” – the
Golden Rule.
 He is credited with having authored or
edited many of the Chinese classic
texts including all of the five classics,
and aphorisms concerning his
teachings were compiled in the
Analects.