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Literature occupied an important arid unique position in ancient China. Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of Wei (on the throne from 220 to 226), said "writing is a great cause of administering a country and a great event of eternity," thinking literature was an important matter bearing on the governance of the country and posterity. Ancient China's imperial examination system was also very important in selecting officials according to literary standards, especially the poem and article writing ability. China's literary traditions with a long history shaped unique literary concepts and artistic methods in their development, and exerted far-reaching influence on the literature of later ages. Ancient Chinese literary genres such as poems, essays, novels and dramas gradually improved and maturated in different historical stages, and added numerous monumental classics to the world's literary treasure house.
Chinese literature has a long history. People usually take the "literary revolution" that began in 1917 as the dividing point, and call Chinese literature before 1917 Chinese ancient literature collectively. Chinese ancient literature's development course of thousands of years can be roughly divided into three historical periods: the remote ancient times (before the 3r0 century AD), the middle ancient times (from the 3rd century AD to the 16th century) and the near ancient times (from the 16th century AD to the early 20,h century).
The first stage of the remote ancient times is pre-Qin literature, including the historical periods of the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1046 BC), the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC-771 BC), the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC-^76 BC) and the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC).
One prominent characteristic of pre-Qin literature is that literature was still within the matrix of culture and was not separated from history and philosophy. Therefore, the greatest achievements of pre-Qin literature in prose include not only historical works such as The Book of Documents, Chronicle of Zuo, Conversations of the States and Strategies of the Warring States, but also philosophical writings of the Confucian School, the Taoist School, the Mohist School and other schools of thoughts such as The Book of Changes, Laozi, Analects of Confucius, Mencius and Zhuangzi. Another prominent achievement of pre-Qin literature is that in the field of poetry, The Book of Songs and Verses of Chu that remained glorious for generations emerged. The Book of Songs is China's first collection of poems, including works of the 500-plus year period from the early Zhou Dynasty to the mid Spring and Autumn Period. Verses of Chu is another collection of poems that emerged later. The literary forms, dialect and sounds of the Chu State (today's Hubei and Hunan) are used to describe local mountains, rivers, people, history and customs and express enthusiasm and romance. The main writer of Verses of Chu is Qu Yuan, the first great poet in the history of Chinese literature.
The second stage of the Remote Ancient Times is Qin and Han literature, including the historical periods of the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC), the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-25 AD) and the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). Against the backdrop of political and cultural unification, Qin and Han literature lost the vigor of pre-Qin literature and showed a stereotyped and stagnant style. This is fully reflected in the most representative literary form of this period - the Han rhapsody. Most contents of Han rhapsodies exaggeratedly depict palaces, cities, emperors' hunting trips, etc. with flowery language full of detailed descriptions and parallel structures. The real representative of the highest level of Qin and Han prose is Sima Qian's biographical general history Records of the Grand Historian, which made outstanding achievements in the art of narration and characterization. However, poetry had new vitality. Yuefu folk songs of the Han Dynasty spreading among people and Nineteen Ancient Poems created by scholars of the middle and lower classes both describe parting, frustration and worries about uncertainties in life with plain language and sincerity, and can still strike a responsive chord with readers thousands of years later.
Painting bricks of figures from the Han Dynasty, vividly demonstrating the scene of social life of that time.
Literature of the middle ancient times is literature of the historical period from the Wei Dynasty (220-265) and the Jin Dynasty (265^20) through the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589), the Sui Dynasty (581-618), the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Five Dynasties (907-960), the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) to the mid Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
The first stage of the middle ancient times is from the Wei and Jin dynasties to the mid Tang Dynasty. Chinese literature entered the stage of consciousness from the stage of spontaneity, and in particular poem creation reached a peak. In several centuries, brilliant poets came forth in large numbers from the "Three Caos," "Seven Scholars of Jian'an" and "Zhengshi poets" to Tao Yuanming, Xie Lingyun, Yu Xin, the "Four Great Poets of the Early Tang Dynasty," Chen Ziang, Wang Wei, Meng Haoran, Gao Shi, Cen Shen, Li Bai, Du Fu... Poets' unique personalities echo with their works' unique styles. The fervent and solemn "Jian'an style," the "voice of Zhengshi poets" infused with sorrow and joy of life and rational thinking and the magnificent and vigorous style of the "prosperous Tang Dynasty" all exerted far-reaching influence on later generations' poetry paradigms.
The second stage of the middle ancient times is from the mid Tang Dynasty to the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty. In this period, the most important event in the literary circles was the "Classical Prose Movement" advocating reform of literary styles, literary genres and literary language. This reform initiated by Han Yu in the Tang Dynasty and carried forward by Ouyang Xiu, etc. in the Song Dynasty exerted far-reaching influence on the development of Chinese prose. After reaching a climax in the prosperous Tang Dynasty and being expanded by poets of the mid and late Tang Dynasty such as Bai Juyi, Li He, Li Shangyin and Du Mu, poetry underwent new development in a different direction. Ci poetry, a new literary form shaped on the basis of poetry, attracted a lot of attention. Su Shi and Xin Qiji representing the bold and unconstrained school of ci poetry and Liu Yong and Li Qingzhao representing the graceful and restrained school of ci poetry elevated this new literary form's status to the representative of literature of the Song Dynasty together. What deserves special attention is that legends thrived after the mid and late Tang Dynasty, marking Chinese novels had entered the stage of maturity; with the prosperity of the commodity economy and the rise of the civil culture in the Song Dynasty, vernacular novels created with colloquial language emerged, completely changed the Chinese ancient literary tradition of using classical Chinese, and laid an important foundation for the development of novels in later ages in terms of language, narrative models, etc.
The third stage of the middle ancient times is from the Yuan Dynasty to the mid Ming Dynasty. In this period, narrative literature represented by novels and traditional Chinese opera began to replace poems and essays and dominate the literary circles. Yuan drama was not only a milestone in China's drama history, but also became another classic in the history of Chinese ancient literature comparable to poetry of the Tang Dynasty and ci poetry of the Song Dynasty. The emergence of the two long vernacular novels of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin was another important symbol of this period, heralding a new epoch of literature.
Literature of the approximately 400-year period from the mid Ming Dynasty to the beginning of "literary revolution" in 1917 belongs to literature of the near ancient times.
The first stage of literature of the near ancient times is from the mid Ming Dynasty to the Opium War of 1840. In this period, the most prominent literary genres were no longer traditional poems and essays but popular literature represented by dramas and novels. In particular, novels continued to maturate in terms of literary forms, ideological connotations, etc., and classic works such as Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio and The Scholars emerged.
After the Opium War, China was gradually reduced from a feudal society to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Social changes brought about changes in literary concepts and literary creation. Literature began to be deemed as a tool for improving the society, and was gradually influenced by Western literature. New thoughts and new styles germinated under the traditional framework.
The "literary revolution" that began in 1917 was part of the "May 4th" New Culture Movement. It opposed classical Chinese, advocated vernacular Chinese, opposed old literature, advocated taking new literature as a flag, and became a distinctive milestone in the history of Chinese literature. Chinese ancient literature which has lasted thousands of years ended, and Chinese literature entered a brand new era.