INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE LITERATURE

Good day everyone. Welcome to the lecture about the Chinese literature. In this lecture, we are going to talk about the history, writers, as well as the literary works during this period. This topic is presented by me, Kay Ann, and my partner, Marianne. But before that, let us all define what is Chinese literature. Chinese literature is the body of works written in Chinese, including lyric poetry, historical and didactic writing, drama, and various forms of fiction. Chinese literature is one of the major literary heritages in the world. It is a vast subject that spans thousands of years. It reflects the Chinese culture, and it includes various literary genres from Shang Dynasty up to the modern era. Furthermore, those literary works they made consist of true feelings, and the writers have the freedom to use any kind of format and patterns. One of the most interesting things about Chinese literature is that much of the serious literature was composed using a formal written language that is called Classical Chinese. This language that they used in making literary pieces is different from the spoken language in daily conversation. This is one of the reasons why Chinese literature becomes complex when it comes to language use. Let us now proceed to the characteristics of Chinese literature. Through cultural contacts, Chinese literature has profoundly influenced the literary traditions of other Asian countries, particularly Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Not only was the Chinese script adapted for the written language of these countries, but some writers adopted the Chinese language as a chief literary medium at least before the 20th century. The graphic nature of the written aspect of the Chinese language has produced a number of noteworthy effects upon Chinese literature and its diffusion. The first characteristic of Chinese literature is that especially poetry is recorded in handwriting or printed, and prefers to make an aesthetic appeal to the reader. The second one, the visual appeal of the graph has in fact given rise to the elevated status of calligraphy in China and used to be part of general lifestyle design. The third one, Chinese literature is a vast varieties of forms, but in a negative side wherein some people doesn't know how to read or write or not having knowledge about their literary work. On the other hand, the Chinese written language even with its obvious disadvantage has been a potent in perfect reading the cultural unity of the growing millions of the Chinese people. The last one, Chinese poetry besides depending on and rhyme is characterized by its compactness and brevity. There are no epics or either folk or literary variety and hardly any narrative and descriptive poems, but are long by the standard of world literature. Lastly, generally pronouns and conjunctions are omitted and one or two words are often allude to highly complex thoughts or situations. Next discussion is about the history of Chinese literature. It will be discussed by my partner Marianne.