World Literature Research Project — China

Philip Philips
Sep 8, 2018 · 7 min read

Question 1: Overview

China is the most populous county in the world, with 1.4 billion people in 2018. It is approximately 96000000 square kilometres in total area, taking the spot of the third largest country in the world. China has over 200 different dialects with Mandarin being the most common followed by Yue, or Cantonese.

Question 2: Literature Overview

Chinese literature has been around for thousands of years, with the golden age being the Tang and Song dynasty, which is accredited to wood block printing being invented. The most famous writers and poets in China include Li Bai, Confucius, Laozi and Wang Wei. Li Bai and Wang Wei were mostly poets, who roamed the country and penned poems describing the landscape in Wang Wei’s case and human nature, friendship and emotions in Li Bai’s case. Confucius and Laozi were philosophers and they wrote the Analects of Confucius and the Tao Te Ching respectively. Ancient Chinese literature was mostly philosophical, political or educational, as they regarded it as a waste of paper/bamboo strips and ink otherwise. Literature meant for entertainment only became prolific after the Tang and Song dynasties, when printing was invented, and it became much cheaper to distribute books. Even then it would be educational fables teaching a certain moral. In more modern time Mao Zedong dictated that all art must serve politics in 1942, which made literature written at that time very political and often would have propaganda in it. Writers began having more freedom to write again in the 1980s. Most ancient Chinese poems tended to have rhyming couplets and would be short and have a fixed number of words in each line. More modern Chinese poems would be more varied and not abide by the tendency to form couplets of rhymes.

Question 3: Short Stories

The first story is called: Waiting for a Hare by the Tree. Once upon a time, there was a farmer. In his farm there was a big tree. One day, while working on his farm, he saw a hare suddenly running by and bumping against the big tree. The hare broke its neck and died, so without any effort, the farmer happily had a meal of hare meat and he sold the fur for a few coins. He was very pleased and thought how nice it would be if there was a hare killing itself on his tree every day. From then on, he would no longer work on his farm, but instead wait by that tree for another hare to come and kill itself on his tree. He waited and waited, but never again did a hare bump into the tree. His farm grew abandoned and full of weeds and the farmer starved to death.

This story reveals barely anything about the country, China. It is a fable that focuses on the theme of laziness and taking things for granted. The farmer takes for granted the rabbit bumping into the tree and wishes that it could happen every day. This shows his laziness of not properly tending to his farm but instead hoping that he will get lucky again after getting lucky the first time. This story is used to teach children that laziness is bad and to not always hope to be lucky, but instead to use your own efforts to get something.

The second story is called: Stealing a Bell with Blocked Ears. There was a man who wanted to steal a doorbell, but the doorbell was too heavy, and if he tried take the bell it would ring and alert the owners of the bell. The man decided to plug his ears with cloth so that he could not hear the bell. Then, assuming no one could hear the bell just like him, he went up to the doorbell and grabbed it. The doorbell rang, and the owner of the doorbell came out and the thief was arrested.

This story also does not show anything about China. This story is also a fable, but this one focuses on deceiving oneself. The thief deceived himself into thinking that since he could not hear the doorbell no one else could as well. This story is used to educate children that stealing will have bad consequences such as getting arrested, as well as that deceiving yourself will not have a good result as even if you can deceive yourself you may not necessarily be able to deceive others.

Both of these stories do not have confirmed authors as they were passed down by word of mouth for a long time before the modern formation of the country.

Question 4: Poems

游子吟 — — -孟郊

慈母手中线,

游子身上衣。

临行密密缝,

意恐迟迟归。

谁言寸草心,

报得三春晖。

A Traveller’s Song
By Meng Jiao

The thread in the hands of a fond-hearted mother
Makes clothes for the body of her wayward boy;
Carefully she sews and thoroughly she mends,
Dreading the delays that will keep him late from home.
But how much love has the inch-long grass
For three spring months of the light of the sun?

The first poem I will talk about is called A Traveller’s Song, by Meng Jiao. The poem describes how mothers in poor families sews clothes for their children when they leave, which shows a tradition in Ancient China. It also describes how it is impossible for children to repay the kindness that your parents give you by bringing you up. It shows the traditional values of Confucianism values in China of filial piety. This poem focuses on the theme of filial piety and how the author, Meng Jiao, felt this way with his own mother. He is using this poem to express his love for his mother.

静夜思 — — -李白

床前明月光,
疑是地上霜。
举头望明月,
低头思故乡。

Thoughts in the Silent Night
By Li Bai

Beside my bed a pool of moonlight —
Is it frost on the ground?
I lift my head and see the moon,
I bend my head and think of home.

This poem is called Thoughts in the Silent Night, by Li Bai. The poem describes how one night the author is struck by a sudden homesickness, after looking at the full moon. The moon being full can mean unity or reunion in Chinese culture, which is why he was became homesick. This is also what the poem shows of Chinese Culture, as even today the full moon still means unity in China, especially in autumn. This poem focuses on the theme of homesickness and being alone. Li Bai is alone while his home and family is somewhere else, which explains why he looks down at the end of the poem, signifying him crying.

九月九日忆山东兄弟 — — — -王维

独在异乡为异客,
每逢佳节倍思亲。
遥知兄弟登高处,
遍插茱萸少一人。

Thinking of My Brothers in Shandong on the Ninth of September
By Wang Wei

All alone in a foreign land,
I am twice as homesick on this day
When brothers carry dogwood up the mountain,
Each of them a branch-and my branch missing.

This poem is called Thinking of My Brothers in Shandong on the Ninth of September, by Wang Wei. It describes how the author is alone on a mountain on the ninth of September, which is meant to be a date where friends and family reunite to go to the mountain in Shandong to collect dogwood. This also has the theme of homesickness, as the author misses his brothers, which can mean close friends in China. This homesickness is a common theme in many Chinese Poems and books, due to the semi frequent wars as well as the long distance between places and they had no modern methods of transport back then.

悯农 — — -李绅

锄禾日当午,
汗滴禾下土。
谁知盘中餐,
粒粒皆辛苦。

Toiling Farmers
By Li Shen

Farmers weeding at noon,
Sweat drips into the dirt.
Who knows if the food on your plate
Was thanks to their day of toil?

This poem is simply called Toiling Farmers, by Li Shen. It describes how the farmers work for every grain of rice in the burning sun and how the people who are fortunate to be able to eat food should be thankful to those who work so you can eat. This does not show much about china, except that, like most countries, China has farmers and people who eat food. This focuses on the theme of being thankful to those who work. This is shown throughout the entire poem and essentially praises the farmers as well as educating people about being thankful.

Spring Nap

By Meng Hao Ran

I wake up with the sun up high.
Birds chirp everywhere.
Last night a rainstorm passed by,
Who knows how many flowers must have fallen?

This poem is called Spring Nap and describes how the author feels very pleased after he wakes up to the sound of birds chirping and the sun up. He looks out of the window and notices that it rained last night. He ponders on how many flowers must have fallen over the course of the night. This poem does not really have any information on china and has the theme of spring.

Question 5: Conclusion

From this research project I learned more about my birth country, China. I spent some time researching about the literature of China and the various famous works that were written there. I completely based my project on pre-modern Chinese literature so next time I would look into modern literature a but more. I learnt that Chinese literature was mostly for educational purposes, instead of all the novels we see nowadays. This was because back then paper was expensive. Overall, I rather enjoyed this research project because I got to look into my own culture a bit and read a bit more literature from China.

Bibliography

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ChinaHighlights. 2018. History of Chinese Literature, China Literature in Ancient Time. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/history-of-chinese-literature.htm. [Accessed 08 September 2018].

Chinese literature — Wikipedia. 2018. Chinese literature — Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_literature. [Accessed 08 September 2018].

Culture Victoria. 2018. Introduction to Chinese and Cantonese dialects — Language, A Key to Survival: Cantonese-English Phrasebooks in Australia — Culture Victoria. [ONLINE] Available at: https://cv.vic.gov.au/stories/immigrants-and-emigrants/language-a-key-to-survival-cantonese-english-phrasebooks-in-australia/introduction-to-chinese-and-cantonese-dialects/. [Accessed 08 September 2018].

Encyclopedia Britannica. 2018. China — Cultural milieu | Britannica.com. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/place/China/Cultural-milieu#ref589670. [Accessed 08 September 2018].