Outline of the Literature of China

By Roger Blackwell Bailey, Ph. D.
Check out the Reference page for literary history, anthologies, and other on- and off-line helps. Please note that only the most important poets are listed below. You should refer to the anthologies for translations of other poets, poets, incidentally, whom you will not wish to overlook.

Hsia Dynasty
Shang Dynasty

Chou Dynasty( 1121-221 B.C. )

The Spring and Autumn Period ( 722-481 )

Lao Tzu ( Dates unknown. May have lived before or after Confucius. Traditionally thought to be an older contemporary. ) The Tao-teh Ching. The basic text of Taoism. Many translations. See Legge, Texts of Taoism ( Dover Books ) and Waley.
On-Line English Translations of Tao Te Ching.
Confucius ( 551-479 ) The Analects. See Legge's translation of the Analects, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean ( Reprint , Dover Books ), which, together with the Mencius ( See below ), make up the the body of basic Confucian texts known as the Four Books.
Analects from U. of Evansville in English translation.
Analects English translation from M.I.T.
The so-called Five Classics make up the next important group of Confucian texts:

• The Book of Documents ( Shu Ching ). Translated by Legge and by Karlgren.On Line
• The Book of Changes. Translated by Legge and by Wilhelm. Legge Translation.   Wilhelm Translation.
• The Book of Rites. Translated by Legge.
• The Book of Odes. Translated by Legge and by Waley ( The Book of Songs ). Freely and sometimes illuminatingly translated by Ezra Pound. 305 folk songs collected from all over China by Confucius ( according to tradition ). Book of Songs Page.

The Spring and Autumn Annals. A history of the period to which the book gave its name. Attributed to Confucius. Terse notices of events year-by-year. Illuminated by the three commentaries upon it, Most notably the one by Tso Ch'iu-ming called the Tso Chuan ( The Tso Commentary ), for which there is a complete translation by Legge and a highly readable recent selection by Burton Watson.

The Warring Kingdoms Period ( 403-222 )

Philosophers, of whom there were many schools. For a sampling, see Chan Wing-tsit's Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. ( Princeton, 1963 ).
Mencius ( 371-289? ) Translated by Legge and Dobson. A Confucianist who taught the essential goodness of human nature. Legge Translation
Chuang-tzu ( 4th c. ) On Line
See Burton Watson, Basic Writings of Mo Tzu, Hsün tzu and Han Fei Tzu for the following :
Mo-tzu. Noted for his doctrine of universal love.
Hsün-tzu. A Confucianist for whom man's nature is not innately good.
Han Fei-tzu. The leading 'Legalist' philosopher.

Poets
Ch'ü Yüan ( c. 300 B.C. ) See David Hawkes, The Songs of The South ( Oxford, 1959 ). Ch'ü Yüan's "Lament".

Ch'in Dynasty ( 221-206 ). Of the warring kingdoms, the state of Ch'in emerged victorious, and its First Emperor united China and built the Great Wall.

Former Han Dynasty ( 206-A.D.8 ).
History
Ssu-ma Ch'ien, Historical Records.Partial translation by Burton Watson as Records of the Grand Historian of China. Two volumes. ( Columbia, 1961 ). See also Watson's biography , Ssu-ma Ch'ien: Grand Historian of China. ( Columbia, 1958 ).
Poetry
"Nineteen Old Poems." Translated in Payne and elsewhere.

Later Han Dynasty ( 25-220 )
History
Courtier and Commoner in Ancient China translated by Burton Watson ( Columbia, 1974 ) offers selections from the History of the Former Han by Pan Ku ( 32-92 ).
Poetry
"Southeast the Peacock Flies." In Payne and other anthologies.
Two Chinese Poets ( Princeton, 1960 ) by E.R. Hughes presents translations from Pan Ku ( 32-92 ) and Chang Heng ( 78-139 ). Translations from two Fu, sometimes called "rhymeprose".
"Nineteen Old Poems." See Watson's Chinese Lyricism. These poems anticipate the new five-character verse form that was largely to replace the older four-character line and dominate Chinese poetry thereafter.

Wei and Six Dynasties Period ( 220-589 )
Poets
J.D. Frodsham, with the collaboration of Ch'eng Hsi, An Anthology of Chinese Verse: Han, Wei, Chin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties ( Oxford, 1976 ). This translation gives some attention to some of the important poets between Han and T'ang.
T'ao Ch'ien ( 365-427 ). The most important poet of this period is translated by James R. Hightower ( Oxford, 1970 ). Biographical and critical study of the poet along with a complete translation. T'ao Ch'ien is in some respects the most attractive and accessible of Chinese poets.
Literary Criticism
Lu Chi ( 261-303 ) Wen Fu. Translated by E.R. Hughes ( Pantheon, 1951 ).
Liu Hsieh ( 465-522 ). The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons. Translated by Vincent Yu-chung Shih ( Columbia, 1959 ).
Anecdotes
See Richard B. Mather's translation of A New Account of Tales of the World ( Shih- Shuo Hsin-Yü ) by Liu I-ch'ing ( 403-444 ) ( Minnesota, 1975 ).
Tales of Marvels
Perhaps a dozen important collections of supernatural tales, The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Search for Spirits, to name only two, are represented in The Man Who Sold a Ghost ( Peking, 1958 ). See also Classical Chinese Tales edited by Karl S.Y. Kao ( Indiana U.P., 1985 ).
T'ang Dynasty ( 618-907 )
Poets

• Wang Wei ( 699-759 ). See Chang and Walmsley translation ( Tuttle, 1958 ). Wang Wei Index.
  
• Li Po (Li Bai) ( 701-762 ). See translation by Shigeyoshi Obata ( Reprint Paragon, 1965 ). Also Waley's short study ( Allen and Unwin, 1950 ). Li Bai Index.
  
• Tu Fu (Du Fu) ( 712-770 ). See translation by William Hung (Harvard, 1952 ). See also Rewi Alley's Selected Poems ( Peking, 1962 ) and David Hawkes' Little Primer of Tu Fu ( Oxford, 1967 ) Du Fu Index.
• Po Chü-i ( 772-846 ). See Waley's Life and Times ( Allen and Unwin, 1949 ).   Selected Poems from Humanistic Texts.
• Li Shang-yin ( ?813-858 ). See The Poetry of Li Shang-yin. Translated by James J.Y. Liu ( Chicago, 1969 ). Selected Poems.

Lyric Poets of the Southern T'ang by Daniel Bryant ( Vancouver, 1982 ) presents the work of two late poets, Feng Yen-ssu ( 903-960 ) and Li Yü ( 937-978 ).
The most famous anthology of T'ang poetry, Three Hundred T'ang Poems was translated by Bynner and Kiang as The Jade Mountain ( Knopf, 1929 ).
300 Tang Dynasty Poems from U. of Virginia.
Essayists

• Han Yü
  
• Liu Tsung-yüan
  

Short Fiction ( Ch'üan-ch'i )
See three collections in particular : The Dragon King's Daughter ( Peking, 1954 ), Ladies of the Tang. Translated by ElizabethTe-chen Wang ( Taipei, 1961 ) and Karl S.Y. Kao, Classical Chinese Tales of the Supernatural and the Fantastic ( Indiana, 1985 ).
Chang Wen-ch'eng ( 657-730 ). The Dwelling of Playful Goddesses. Translation by Howard S. Levy of Yu-hsien-k'u, a short fiction written in 'balanced prose' ( p'ien-wen ). ( Tokyo, 1965 ).

Sung Dynasty ( 960-1279 )
Poets
Su Tung-p'o ( 1037-1101 ). Selections by Burton Watson ( Columbia, 1965 ). The most outstanding Sung poet.
Li Ch'ing-chao ( 1081-1145 ). The greatest of China's women poets. Poems of Li Ch'ing-chao.
Lu Yu ( 1125-1210 ).
Hsin Ch'i-chi ( 1140-1207 ).

Yuan Dynasty ( 1234-1368 )
Poets
Drama. ( The most outstanding literary contribution of the period. )
Kuan Han-ch'ing ( ?1234-? ). Selected Plays translated by Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang ( Peking, 1958 ). See especially 'Snow in Midsummer' and 'Rescued by a Coquette'.
Wang Shih-fu ( 13th c. ). The Western Chamber. Translated by S.I. Hsiung. ( Reprint, Columbia, 1968 ).
Ma Chih-yüan ( 1260-1325 ). Autumn in the Han Palace.
Li Hsing-tao ( ). The Circle of Chalk. The remote ancestor of Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle.
Kao Ming ( ).The Lute. Translated by Jean Mulligan ( Columbia, 1980 ). An example of the ch'üan ch'i genre ( not to be confused with the T'ang classical tales also called Ch'üan ch'i ).

Ming Dynasty ( 1368-1644 )
The Vernacular Tale
Feng Meng-lung ( 1574-1646 ) and Ling Meng-ch'u are responsible for five collections of stories, some old and some original, Feng largely as an editor and Ling largely as an author. The later collection Strange Stories, New and Old comes almost entirely from the collections of Feng and Ling and may be sampled in several English versions: Acton and Lee, Four Cautionary Tales A.A. Wyn, 1948; Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang, The Courtesan's Jewel Box, Peking, 1957; Cyril Birch, Stories from a Ming Collection Indiana, .
The Novel

• Romance of the Three Kingdoms by ? Lo Kuan-chung ( 14th c.) . Translated by C.H.Brewitt-Taylor in two volumes ( Tuttle reprint, 1959 ). On-line Romance of Three Kingdoms. Contains helps and interactive commentary, maps. Brewitt-Taylor Translation.
  
• The Water Margin by ?.Translated in four volumes by Sidney Shapiro as Outlaws of the Marsh ( Peking, 1981 )
• Journey to the West . By Wu Ch'eng-en (1500?-1582 ). Translated partially by Waley under the title of Monkey and completely by Anthony Yu in four volumes under its original title ( Chicago, 1983 )..
• The Golden Lotus. By ? in early 17th c. Translated by Clement Egerton in four volumes. See also The Plum in the Golden Vase, Translated by David Tod Roy in projected five volumes (Princeton, 1993-)

The Drama
T'ang Hsien-tsu ( 1550-1617 ). The Peony Pavilion. Translated by Cyril Birch ( Indiana U.P., 1980 )

Ch'ing Dynasty ( 1644-1911 )
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. By P'u Sung-ling ( 1640-1715 ). A collection of supernatural tales in the classical language > Translation by Giles reprinted by Dover Books.

The Novel

• The Dream of the Red Chamber by Ts'ao Hsüeh-ch'in ( 1724?-1764 ) and Kao E (?). Translated in five volumes by David Hawkes and John Minford ( Indiana U.P., 1987 ). Preface and Chapter 1 Written and translated by Cecil Maurice Bowra.
• The Scholars. By Wu Ching-tzu ( 1701-1754 ). Translated by Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang (Peking, 1957 ).
• Six Chapters of a Floating Life. By Shen Fu (1762- after 1803 ). Translated by Lin Yutang and by Pratt and Chiang ( Penguin, 1983 ).
• The Travels of Lao Ts'an. By . Translated by Harold Shadick ( Cornell, 1952 ).

The Drama
Hung Sheng ( 1645-1704 ). The Palace of Eternal Youth. Translated by Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang ( Peking, 1955 )
K'ung Shang-jen ( 1648-1718 ). Peach Blossom Fan. Translated by Chen Shih-hsiang and Harold Acton with the collaboration of Cyril Birch. ( California, 1976 )

Poetry
Yüan Mei by Arthur Waley presents the life and work of an important Ch'ing poet who lived 1716-1797.

Modern China
Lu Xun ( 1881-1936 ) from Books and Writers.
Hu Shih( 1891-1962 ) and the May Fourth Movement from Bartleby.
Pa Chin ( 1905-2005) Pa Chin Biography.
Xingjian Gao ( 1940- ) from Books and Writers.
Major Modern Chinese Writers Biographical sketches from BYU.

Last Updated 10/29/09 Back to World Literature