Chinese literature - Definition and Overview

Ancient texts

• The Four Books (四書, Sì shū) are
  • The Great Learning, (大學, Dà Xué).
  • The Doctrine of the Golden Mean (中庸, Zhōng Yóng).
  • The Analects of Confucius (論語, Lùn Yǔ), a book of pithy sayings attributed to Confucius.
  • Mencius (孟子, Mèng Zǐ).
• The Five Classics (五經, Wǔ jīng) are
  • The Classic of Poetry (詩經, Shī Jīng), made up of 305 poems.
  • The Classic of History (書經, Shū Jīng) contains examples of early Chinese prose.
  • The Book of Changes or I Ching (易經, Yì Jīng), a manual of divination based on the eight trigrams.
  • The Classic of Rites (禮記, Lǐ Jì) describes ancient rites and court ceremonies.
  • The Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋, Chūn Qiū).
  • The Classic of Music (樂經) is sometime referred to as the sixth classic, but is lost.
• Other classics:
  • The Classic of The Way and its Virtue or Tao Te Ching (道德經, Dao De Jing), attributed to Lao Zi.
  • The True Classic of Perfect Emptiness, attributed to Lie Zi.
  • The Classic of Filial Piety (孝經, Xiao Jing)
  • The Three Characters Classic
• Other ancient texts
  • Zhuang Zi
  • The book of Xun Zi
  • The Art of War (孙子兵法) by Sun Tzu

Classical Poetry

• Classical Chinese poetry
• List of Chinese language poets

Classical Prose

• Eight Great Literary Masters of the Tang and Song 唐宋八大家
  • Han Yu 韓愈
  • Liu Zongyuan 柳宗元
  • Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修
  • Su Xun 蘇洵
  • Su Shi 蘇軾
  • Su Zhe 蘇轍
  • Wang Anshi 王安石
  • Zeng Gong 曾鞏

Classic Novels

See List of Chinese language novelists

• The Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦, also known as A Dream of Red Mansions or The Chronicles of the Stone (石頭記, Shítóu Jì), by 曹雪芹 Cáo Xuěqín
• Water Margin (水浒传), also known as All Men Are Brothers and Outlaws of the Marsh), by 施耐庵 Shī Nài'ān
• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义) by 罗贯中 Luó Guànzhōng
• The Journey to the West (西游记), also known as Monkey King and Monkey, by 吴承恩 Wú Chéng'ēn.

The above 4 classics are often called the Si Da Ming Zhu or the Four Classics.

• Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (聊齋志異) by 蒲松齡 Pú Sōnglíng.
• Jin Ping Mei (金瓶梅), by 蘭陵笑笑生 Lánlíng Xiàoxiàoshēng.

Modern

• 嚴 復 Yan Fu (1853 - 1924)
• 劉 鶚 Liu E (1857 - 1909)
• 王 國 維 Wang Guowei (1877 - 1927)
• 蘇 曼 殊 Su Manshu (1894 - 1918)
• 魯 迅 Lu Xun (1881 - 1936)
• 許 地 山 Xu Dishan (1893 - 1941)
• 林語堂 Lin Yutang (1895 - 1976)
• 茅 盾 Mao Dun (1896 - 1981)
• 徐 志 摩 Xu Zhimo (1896 - 1936)
• 郁 達 夫 Yu Dafu (1896 - 1945)
• 郭 沫 若 Guo Moruo (1892 - 1978)
• 老 舍 Lao She (1897 - 1966)
• 朱 自 清 Zhu Ziqing (1898 - 1948)
• 田 漢 Tian Han (1898 - 1968)
• 聞 一 多 Wen Yiduo (1899 - 1946)
• 冰心 Bing Xin (1900 - 1999)
• 巴 金 Ba Jin (1905 - )
• 沈 從 文 Shen Congwen (1902 - 1988)
• 曹 禺 Cao Yu (1905- )
• 錢鐘書 Qian Zhongshu (1910 - 1988)
• 张爱玲 Eileen Chang (1920 - 1995)
• 汪曾祺 Wang Zengqi (1920 - 1997)
• 金庸 Jinyong (1924 - )
• 高行健 Gao Xingjian, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2000 (1940 - )
• 铁凝 Tie Ning (1957 - )

Overseas Chinese Literature

• 林海音 Lin Haiyin (1918 - 2001)

• 白先勇 Bai Xianyong (1937 - )
• You Jin, Singapore

Others

Chinese writers writing in English:

• Amy Tan
• Maxine Hong Kingston
• Ha Jin

Related Topics

• List of Chinese authors
• Chinese art
• Chinese language
• Chinese mythology
• Chinese classic texts
• Chinese culture