Abstract
With distinctive features and generations of renowned artists, ancient Chinese literature and art can boast great achievements and their own aesthetic systems. They occupy a very important position in the global history of ancient literature and art. In terms of literature, there have survived masterpieces in poetry, ci (lyrics), qu (lyric song), fu (the ode), prose, pianwen (parallel prose), fiction, and drama that are both profound in thinking and beautiful in form. In the other arts, there have survived treasures of deep intrinsic meaning and a variety of styles, whether we look at calligraphy, painting, music, dance, sculpture, architecture, or craft. To explore the treasures of ancient Chinese literature and art is a project of great significance, and so too is to inherit the fine traditions of literature and art of our own nation, which may increase our national self-confidence. The following chapter takes into account literature, calligraphy, painting, music, and dance when illustrating the great achievements of ancient Chinese literature and art.
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Notes
- 1.
See Lu Xun, Sketches of History of Chinese Literature: Sima Xiangru and Sima Qian.
- 2.
Quoted from Zheng Linchuan, On Ancient Chinese Literature by Wen Yiduo (Chongqing: Chongqing Publishing House, 1984), p. 82.
- 3.
Chenzi means word inserted in a line of verse for balance or euphony.
- 4.
Wang Guowei (1877–1927) was a notable writer, scholar, and poet. Liang Qichao, Chen Yinque, Zhao Yuanren, and him were known as the Four Great Tutors (Qinghua sida daoshi) at Tsinghua University, Beijing.
- 5.
Also widely known in English as The Outlaws of the Marsh.
- 6.
These three stories are all taken from Three Words.
- 7.
See Chap. 1 for further information about Yangshao Culture.
- 8.
Luo Zhenyu (1866–1940) was a scholar, philologist, and antiquarian and famous for his attempts to preserve early specimens of writing on oracle bones and bamboo slips, as well as for acting as an advisor to the last emperor Puyi.
- 9.
Names of these two paintings were quoted from Wang Bomin, The History of Chinese Painting (Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House, 1982).
- 10.
The name of this painting was mistakenly written as “Long su jiao min tu” and was corrected according to the statement by Mr. Qi Gong. For details, please see Chen Chuanxi, The History of Chinese Landscape Paintings (Tianjin: Tianjin People’s Fine Arts Press, 2001), p. 86.
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© 2015 Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing Co., Ltd and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Zhang, Q. (2015). The Treasure House of Ancient Chinese Literature and Art. In: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture. China Academic Library. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46482-3_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46482-3_11
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