Chinese Literature Flashcards
During this time, the people practiced a religion
based on the belief that nature was inhabited by many powerful gods and spirits.
Shang Dynasty
What are the three achievements during the Shang Dynasty?
•bronze working, decimal
system
•a twelve-month calendar
•a system of writing consisting of 3,000 characters.
This was the longest of all the dynasties and throughout most of this period China suffered from severe political disunity and upheaval.
“Hundred Schools Period”
Lao Tzu
Confucian
Chou
Oldest collection of Chinese poetry and is considered a model of poetic
expression and moral insight.
Poems include court songs that entertained
the aristocracy, story songs that recounted Chou dynasty legends, hymns that
were sung in the temples accompanied by dance and brief folk songs and ballads.
The Book of Songs, (Shih Ching)
It illustrates the Taoist belief and the
humanism of the Chinese thought. In them can be seen the relativity of all things
as they pass through man’s judgment, the virtues of flexibility, and the
drawbacks of material progress.
Parables of the Ancient Philosophers
This period saw the unification of China and the strengthening of central government. Roads connecting all parts of the
empire were built and the existing walls on the northern borders were connected
to form the Great Wall of China
Ch’in Dynasty
This period was one of the most glorious eras of Chinese history and was marked by the introduction of Buddhism from India.
Han Dynasty
Fine arts and literature flourished during this era
which is viewed as the Golden Age of Chinese civilization.
Han Dynasty
Among the
technological advances of Han Dynasty are the invention of:
•gunpowder
•block printing
This poem is entitled?
If you were to ask me why I dwell among green mountains,
I should laugh silently; my soul is serene.
The peach blossom follows the moving water;
There is another heaven and earth beyond the world of men.
Conversation in the Mountains by Li Po
This poem is entitled?
We were often separated How long does youth last?
Like the Dipper and the morning star. Now we are all gray-haired.
What night is tonight? Half of our friends are dead,
We are together in the candlelight. And both of us were surprised when
we met.
A Meeting by Tu Fu
This period was characterized by delicacy and
refinement although inferior in terms of literary arts but great in learning.
Professional poets were replaced by amateur writers. The practice of Neo-
Confucianism grew
Sung Dynasty
What are the three confician tenets?
Jen
Ren
Li
Human heartedness are qualities or forms of behavior that set men above the rest
of the life on earth.
Jen
It is the measure of individual character and such, is the
goal of self-cultivation.
Ren
A virtue is best
understood as a sacred power inherent in the very presence of the sage.
Li
It instructs on moderation in all things through moral education, the building of a harmonious family life, and the
development of virtues such as loyalty, obedience, and a sense of justice. It also
emphasizes filial piety and concern with social and religious rituals.
The Analects
It was expounded by Lao Tzu during the Chou Dynasty
Taoism
It means the natural course that the world follows.
The Tao
It is believed to have been
written between the 8th and 3rd centuries B.C.
Tao-Te Ching (Classic of the Way of Power)
Non-action
Wu Wei
It was imported from India during the Han dynasty. Buddhist thought
stresses the importance of ridding oneself of earthly desires and of seeking
ultimate peace and enlightenment through detachment. With its stress on living
ethically and its de-emphasis on material concerns, Buddhism appealed to both.
Buddhism
What are the five genres in Chinese Poetry?
Shih
Sao
Fu
Lu-shih
Chueh-chu
tzu
characterized by: i) an even number of lines; ii) the same number of words in each
line, in most cases five or seven; and iii) the occurrence of rhymes at the end s of
the even-numbered lines.
It uses parallelism.
Shih
Encountering sorrow’, a poem of lamentation and
protest authored by China’s first known great poet, Chu Yuan (332-295 B.C.). It
was an unusually long poem consisting of two parts: i) an autobiographical account
that is Confucian in overtones; and ii) a narration of an imaginary journey
undertaken by the persona.
Sao
It was a poem partially expository and partly descriptive involving a single
thought or sentiment usually expressed in a reflective manner. Language ranges
from the simple to the rhetorical.
Fu
‘regulation poetry’ was developed during the Tang dynasty but has
remained popular even in the present times. It is an octave consisting of five or
seven syllabic verses with a definite rhyming scheme with all even lines rhyming
together and the presence of the caesura in every line.
Chue-Chu
truncated poetry is a shorter version of the lu-shih and was also
popular during the Tang dynasty. It contains only four lines but within its twenty or
twenty-eight syllables or characters were vivid pictures of natural beauty.
Chueh-chuh
Ut was identified with the Sung dynasty. It is not governed by a fixed number
of verses nor a fixed number of characters per verse. The tzu lyrics were sung to
the tunes of popular melodies.
Tzu
