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137-522: The Wuzi is a classic Chinese work on military strategy attributed to Wu Qi . It is considered one of China's Seven Military Classics . It is said there were two books on the art of war by Wu Qi, but one was lost, hence leaving the Wuzi as the only existing book carrying Wu Qi 's military thoughts. The oldest extant published Wuzi edition that survives dates to the Song dynasty (960–1279). Because of

274-438: A 'horizontal' or east–west alliance called lianheng ( 連橫{ ), in which a state would ally with Qin to participate in its ascendancy. There were some initial successes in hezong , though mutual suspicions between allied states led to the breakdown of such alliances. Qin repeatedly exploited the horizontal alliance strategy to defeat the states one by one. During this period, many philosophers and tacticians travelled around

411-657: A broader range of subject matter and was longer and more loosely structured than literary fiction. One of the masterpieces of Chinese vernacular fiction is the 18th-century domestic novel Dream of the Red Chamber . Chinese fiction was rooted in the official histories and such less formal works as A New Account of the Tales of the World and In Search of the Supernatural (4th and 5th centuries); Finest Flowers from

548-467: A calming effect on Qi's own population, which experienced great domestic tranquility during Wei's reign. By the end of King Wei's reign, Qi had become the strongest of the states and proclaimed itself "king"; establishing independence from the Zhou dynasty (see below). King Hui of Wei (370–319 BC) set about restoring the state. In 362–359 BC he exchanged territories with Han and Zhao in order to make

685-470: A disciplined, effective fighting force: proper organization; extensive training; and, thorough motivation. It is only after the creation of a disciplined, cohesive army that achieving victory becomes a matter of tactics and strategy. Much of the Wuzi discusses the means to achieve such a force. Regarding the Legalist theories of achieving desired action through the proper exercise of reward and punishment,

822-459: A distinctively descriptive and erudite fu form (not the same fu character as that used for the bureau of music) developed that has been called "rhyme-prose", a uniquely Han offshoot of Chinese poetry's tradition. Equally noteworthy is Music Bureau poetry ( yuefu ), collected and presumably refined popular lyrics from folk music. The end of the Han witnesses a resurgence of the shi poetry, with

959-475: A few hundred songs became standard templates for poems with distinctive and variously set meters. The free and expressive style of Song high culture has been contrasted with majestic Tang poems by centuries of subsequent critics who engage in fierce arguments over which dynasty had the best poetry. Additional musical influences contributed to the Yuan dynasty 's (1279–1368) distinctive qu opera culture and spawned

1096-552: A few states gaining power at the expense of many others, the latter no longer able to depend on central authority for legitimacy or protection. During the Warring States period, many rulers claimed the Mandate of Heaven to justify their conquest of other states and spread their influence. The struggle for hegemony eventually created a state system dominated by several large states, such as Jin , Chu, Qin, Yan, and Qi, while

1233-456: A good relationship with his Qi counterpart, with both promising to recognize the other as "king". Early in the Warring States period, Chu was one of the strongest states in China. The state rose to a new level of power around 389 BC when King Dao of Chu ( 楚悼王 ) named the famous reformer Wu Qi as his chancellor. Chu rose to its peak in 334 BC, when it conquered Yue to its east on

1370-413: A great defeat at the hands of Qin. King Kao of Zhou had enfeoffed his younger brother as Duke Huan of Henan. Three generations later, this cadet branch of the royal house began calling themselves "dukes of East Zhou". Upon the ascension of King Nan in 314, East Zhou became an independent state. The king came to reside in what became known as West Zhou. Towards the end of the Warring States period,

1507-562: A new bourgeoisie, implementing class struggle within the party itself. Literature of the period reflected both strands of class struggle. Local government bureaus and work units composed cultural works such as songs and dramas in an effort to overturn traditional cultural preferences for early marriage, large families, and sons over daughters . Academic Sarah Mellors Rodriguez writes that though these works of birth planning propaganda may seem trite to modern audiences, their themes spoke directly to widespread concerns among Chinese people at

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1644-407: A nice dinner. The Song versus Tang debate continues through the centuries. While China's later imperial period does not seem to have broken new ground for innovative approaches to poetry, picking through its vast body of preserved works remains a scholarly challenge, so new treasures may yet be restored from obscurity. Early Chinese prose was deeply influenced by the great philosophical writings of

1781-459: A period of shifting alliances and wars on several fronts. In 376 BC, the states of Han, Wei and Zhao deposed Duke Jing of Jin and divided the last remaining Jin territory between themselves, which marked the final end of the Jin state. In 370 BC, Marquess Wu of Wei died without naming a successor, which led to a war of succession. After three years of civil war, Zhao from the north and Han from

1918-580: A protege of Lu Xun who, along with his wife Mei Zhi , did not toe the Party line on literature. Socialist realism became the uniform style, and many Soviet works were translated. The ability to satirize and expose the evils in contemporary society that had made writers useful to the Chinese Communist Party before its accession to power was no longer welcomed. Party cultural leaders such as Zhou Yang used Mao's call to have literature "serve

2055-523: A son of King Hui by a concubine (i.e. a younger half-brother of King Wu) could be established as King Zhao , who in stark contrast to his predecessor went on to rule for an unprecedented 53 years. After the failure of the first vertical alliance, Su Qin eventually came to live in Qi, where he was favored by King Xuan and drew the envy of the ministers. An assassination attempt in 300 BC left Su mortally wounded but not dead. Sensing death approaching, he advised

2192-513: A strong caesura , producing a driving and dramatic rhythm. Both the Shijing and the Chuci have remained influential throughout Chinese history. During the greater part of China's first great period of unification, begun with the short-lived Qin dynasty (221 BC – 206 BC) and followed by the centuries-long Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), the shi form of poetry underwent little innovation. But

2329-535: A strong military to defend the just, he believed that Confucian virtues would disappear, and evil would dominate the world. Because of his emphasis on the importance of the military for safeguarding civil rights and liberty, the author of the Wuzi states that commanders must be selected carefully, ideally from those possessing courage and who excelled in military arts, but who also possessed good civil administration skills, and who displayed Confucian virtues, particularly those of wisdom and self-control. Because armies in

2466-519: A succession struggle in 307, yielded to the new coalition and appointed Lord Mengchang its chief minister. The alliance between Qin and Qi was sealed by a Qin princess marrying King Min. This horizontal or east–west alliance might have secured peace except that it excluded the State of Zhao . Around 299 BC, the ruler of Zhao became the last of the seven major states to proclaim himself "king". In 298 BC, Zhao offered Qin an alliance and Lord Mengchang

2603-399: A young age and passed tax laws to encourage raising multiple children. He also enacted policies to free convicts who worked in opening wastelands for agriculture. Shang abolished primogeniture and created a double tax on households that had more than one son living in the household, to break up large clans into nuclear families. Shang also moved the capital to reduce the influence of nobles on

2740-458: Is Li Bai (701–762) also pronounced and written as Li Bo, who worked in all major styles, both the more free old style verse ( gutishi ) as well as the tonally regulated new style verse ( jintishi ). Regardless of genre, Tang poets notably strove to perfect a style in which poetic subjects are exposed and evident, often without directly referring to the emotional thrust at hand. The poet Du Fu (712–770) excelled at regulated verse and use of

2877-432: Is Eileen Chang. Though often said to be less successful than their counterparts in fiction writing, poets also experimented with the vernacular in new poetic forms, such as free verse and the sonnet. Given that there was no tradition of writing poetry in the vernacular, these experiments were more radical than those in fiction writing and also less easily accepted by the reading public. Modern poetry flourished especially in

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3014-499: Is a moral cause will prefer death to living ignominiously, improving the chances of success for both the individual soldier and the army as a whole. It is only with the combination of both moral focus and effective rewards and punishments that the army will become a disciplined, spirited, strongly motivated force. The Wuzi advises generals to adopt different tactics and strategy based on their assessment of battlefield situations. Factors affecting appropriate tactics and strategy include:

3151-608: Is a wealth of early Chinese literature dating from the Hundred Schools of Thought that occurred during the Eastern Zhou dynasty (770–256 BC). The most important of these include the Classics of Confucianism , of Daoism , of Mohism , of Legalism , as well as works of military science and Chinese history . Note that, except for the books of poems and songs, most of this literature is philosophical and didactic; there

3288-549: Is based on the comment, from the Han Feizi , that "Within the borders everyone speaks about warfare, and everywhere households secretly store away the books of Sun and Wu." The Shiji corroborates this information. The Wuzi continued to be studied both by famous Han dynasty figures, and by those in the Three Kingdoms period. The record of continuous attention supports the view that was continuously transmitted from

3425-779: Is common to other military treatises dated more conclusively to the Warring States period. The present text of the Wuzi consists of six sections, each focusing on a critical aspect of military affairs: Planning for the State; Evaluating the Enemy; Controlling the Army; the Tao of the General; Responding to Change; and, Stimulating the Officers. Although each chapter is less concentrated than

3562-532: Is evidence both supporting the theory that much of the present text was authored in the mid- Warring States , and that it was modified after this date. The most systematic study of the Wuzi's date of composition and authorship, based on historical references and the book's content, concludes that the core of the work was likely authored by Wu Qi himself, but was likely subject to serious losses of content, revisions, and accretions after his lifetime. This theory assumes that Wu Qi's disciples initially continued amending

3699-442: Is found that cavalry became important in China before c. 300 BC (the date modern scholars generally assume Cavalry became important), then either parts of the Wuzi , or the entire text, must be attributed either to the late Warring States or the early Han dynasty . Modern scholars conclude that the most satisfying conclusion, accounting for the above facts, is that the text was substantially created by " Wu Qi himself, but that in

3836-539: Is in doubt. Another early text was the political strategy book of the Zhan Guo Ce , compiled between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC, with partial amounts of the text found amongst the 2nd century BC tomb site at Mawangdui . The oldest extant dictionary in China is the Erya , dated to the 3rd century BC, anonymously written but with later commentary by the historian Guo Pu (276–324). Other early dictionaries include

3973-543: Is little in the way of fiction. However, these texts maintained their significance through both their ideas and their prose style. The Confucian works in particular have been of high importance to Chinese culture and history, as a set of works known as the Four Books and Five Classics were, in the 12th century AD, chosen as the basis for the Imperial examination for any government post. These nine books therefore became

4110-463: Is no consensus among modern scholars concerning the date that The Wuzi was composed, and/or last modified. A work known as Wuzi was one of the most widely referenced books on military strategy among the records that existed in the Warring States period. (Notable contemporary records mentioning the Wuzi are the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Han Feizi .) Sima Qian , in his Shiji , equates

4247-566: Is remembered in the second of the Thirty-Six Stratagems , "besiege Wei, save Zhao"—meaning to attack a vulnerable spot to relieve pressure at another point. Domestically, King Hui patronized philosophy and the arts, and is perhaps best remembered for hosting the Confucian philosopher Mencius at his court; their conversations form the first two chapters of the book which bears Meng Zi's name . The title of king ( wang , 王 )

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4384-427: Is strikingly concerned with the contemporary: social problems, historical upheaval, changing ethical values, etc. In this sense, late Qing fiction is modern. Important novelists of the period include Wu Woyao (吳沃堯) (1866–1910), Li Boyuan (李伯元) (1867–1906), Liu E (劉鶚) (1857–1909), and Zeng Pu (曾樸) (1872–1935). The late Qing also saw a "revolution in poetry" (詩界革命), which promoted experimentation with new forms and

4521-460: Is traditionally credited with editing the Shijing . Its stately verses are usually composed of couplets with lines of four characters each (or four syllables, as Chinese characters are monosyllabic), and a formal structure of end rhymes. Many of these early poems establish the later tradition of starting with a description of nature that leads into emotionally expressive statements, known as bi , xing , or sometime bixing . Associated with what

4658-606: The Dao De Jing , the Zhuangzi , and the Liezi . Later authors combined Daoism with Confucianism and Legalism, such as Liu An (2nd century BC), whose Huainanzi ( The Philosophers of Huai-nan ) also added to the fields of geography and topography . Among the classics of military science, The Art of War by Sun Tzu (6th century BC) was perhaps the first to outline guidelines for effective international diplomacy . It

4795-655: The Fangyan by Yang Xiong (53 BC – 18 AD) and the Shuowen Jiezi by Xu Shen (58–147 AD). One of the largest was the Kangxi Dictionary compiled by 1716 under the auspices of the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1661–1722); it provides definitions for over 47,000 characters. Although court records and other independent records existed beforehand, the definitive work in early Chinese historical writing

4932-573: The Record of the Warring States , a work of history compiled during the early Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). The political geography of the era was dominated by the Seven Warring States , namely: Besides these seven major states other smaller states survived into the period. They include: The eastward flight of the Zhou court in 771 BC marks the start of

5069-669: The Taiping Yulan (983), the Wenyuan Yinghua (986), and the Cefu Yuangui (1013). Although these Song dynasty Chinese encyclopedias featured millions of written Chinese characters each, their aggregate size paled in comparison to the later Yongle Encyclopedia (1408) of the Ming dynasty, which contained a total of 50 million Chinese characters. Even this size was trumped by later Qing dynasty encyclopedias, such as

5206-667: The Zizhi Tongjian , presented to Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1084 AD. The overall scope of the historiographical tradition in China is termed the Twenty-Four Histories , created for each successive Chinese dynasty up until the Ming dynasty (1368–1644); China's last dynasty, the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), is not included. Large encyclopedias were also produced in China through the ages. The Yiwen Leiju encyclopedia

5343-692: The sanqu form of individual poems based on it. Classical Chinese poetry composition became a conventional skill of the well-educated throughout the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. Over a million poems have been preserved, including those by women, such as Dong Xiaowan and Liu Rushi , and by many other diverse voices. Painter-poets, such as Shen Zhou (1427–1509), Tang Yin (1470–1524), Wen Zhengming (1470–1559), and Yun Shouping (1633–1690), created worthy conspicuous poems as they combined art, poetry and calligraphy with brush on paper. Poetry composition competitions were socially common, as depicted in novels, for example over dessert after

5480-584: The Battle of Maling . After the battle all three of the Jin successor states appeared before King Xuan of Qi , pledging their loyalty. In the following year Qin attacked the weakened Wei. Wei was devastatingly defeated and ceded a large part of its territory in return for truce. With Wei severely weakened, Qi and Qin became the dominant states in China. Wei came to rely on Qi for protection, with King Hui of Wei meeting King Xuan of Qi on two occasions. After Hui's death, his successor King Xiang also established

5617-421: The Hundred Schools of Thought (770–221 BC). The works of Mozi , Mencius , and Zhuang Zhou contain well-reasoned, carefully developed discourses that reveal much stronger organization and style than their predecessors. Mozi's polemic prose was built on solid and effective methodological reasoning. Mencius contributed elegant diction and, like Zhuang Zhou, relied on comparisons, anecdotes, and allegories. By

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5754-806: The Spring and Autumn period . No one single incident or starting point inaugurated the Warring States era. The political situation of the period represented a culmination of historical trends of conquest and annexation which also characterised the Spring and Autumn period. As a result, there is some controversy as to the beginning of the era. Proposed starting points include: The Eastern Zhou dynasty began its fall around 5th century BC. As their influence waned, they had to rely on armies in allied states rather than their own military force. Hundreds of smaller polities coalesced into seven major states which included: Chu, Han, Qin, Wei, Yan, Qi and Zhao. However, there eventually

5891-459: The Warring States period suggest that the Wuzi predates these other works, largely because Sun Bin's Art of War had been lost for two thousand years, so passages from Sun Bin 's work could not have been lifted to forge the Wuzi (just prior to the Tang dynasty , as was claimed in later Chinese history.) Wu Qi was both a civil and military leader, and excelled in both occupations. This dual role

6028-443: The Warring States period. The list of items (then) considered anachronous includes: playing pipes in camp; the inclusion of terms not otherwise known to have been invented until after the Warring States ; and, the appearance of certain astrological banners used by different units. Because recent archeological discoveries have confirmed that all of these "anachronous" practices existed by the Warring States , this Qing-era evidence for

6165-533: The Warring States until at least the Three Kingdoms period. The Wuzi shares both concepts and whole passages with other works dated more conclusively to the Warring States period. (The texts with which the Wuzi shares the greatest resemblance are the Wei Liaozi , Sun Bin's Art of War , and the Six Secret Teachings .) The close similarities that the Wuzi shares with other works from

6302-409: The Warring States were heavily dependent on the horse, both for transportation and for the power of the chariot, the Wuzi places a greater importance and focus on raising and maintaining a force of cavalry more than on maintaining infantry in its discussions of logistics. Because of the shift away from warfare fought among nobility, towards the mass mobilization of civilian armies, the Wuzi stresses

6439-472: The Wuzi states that rewards and punishments are, by themselves, insufficient: excessive reward may cause individuals to pursue profit and glory at the expense of the group, while excessive punishment can lower morale, in the worst cases forcing men to flee service rather than face the consequences of failure. In addition to reward and punishment, the general should inculcate (essentially pseudo-Confucian) values into his soldiers: men fighting for what they believe

6576-535: The Wuzi' s forgery is not valid. Remaining criticisms which the defenders of the Wuzi' s authenticity cannot account for center on the book's description of cavalry as a major, important branch of the military. Because the use of cavalry (presumably) did not become important until the (very) late- Warring States period, the text's emphasis on cavalry implies that present editions must have been edited after Wu Qi's death (unless cavalry became important in central China much earlier than presently believed). Unless evidence

6713-518: The Yan'an Rectification Movement . The Yan'an Talks articulated the view that socialist literature should not merely reflect existing culture, but should help culturally produce the consciousness of a new society. Mao articulated five independent although related categories of creative consideration for socialist cultural production: (1) class stand, (2) attitude, (3) audience, (4) work style, and (5) popularization/massification. The Yan'an Talks would become

6850-519: The novel as early as the Song dynasty . The novel as an extended prose narrative which realistically creates a believable world of its own evolved in China and in Europe from the 14th–18th centuries, though a little earlier in China. Chinese audiences were more interested in history and Chinese authors generally did not present their works as fictional. Readers appreciated relative optimism, moral humanism, relative emphasis on group behavior, and welfare of

6987-454: The state of Qin became disproportionately powerful compared with the other six states. As a result, the policies of the six states became overwhelmingly oriented towards dealing with the Qin threat, with two opposing schools of thought. One school advocated a 'vertical' or north–south alliance called hezong ( 合縱 ) in which the states would ally with each other to repel Qin. The other advocated

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7124-478: The 1930s, in the hands of poets like Zhu Xiang (朱湘), Dai Wangshu , Li Jinfa (李金發), Wen Yiduo , and Ge Xiao (葛蕭). Other poets, even those among the May Fourth radicals (e.g., Yu Dafu ), continued to write poetry in classical styles. May Fourth radicalism, combined with changes in the education system, made possible the emergence of a large group of women writers. While there had been women writers in

7261-514: The 3rd century BC, these writers had developed a simple, concise and economical style that served as a model literary form for over two millennia. These were written in Classical Chinese , which mostly represented the spoken language during the Spring and Autumn period . During the Tang dynasty , the ornate, artificial style of prose developed in previous periods was replaced by a simple, direct, and forceful prose based on examples from

7398-586: The Communists gradually nationalized the publishing industry, centralized the book distribution system, and brought writers under institutional control through the Writers Union. A system of strict censorship was implemented, with Mao's Yan'an Talks as the guiding force. Periodic literary campaigns targeted figures such as Hu Shih and other figures from the New Culture period, especially Hu Feng ,

7535-547: The English phrase low-brow fiction. In the late 1920s and 1930s, literary journals and societies espousing various artistic theories proliferated. Among the major writers of the period were Guo Moruo (1892–1978), a poet, historian, essayist, and critic; Mao Dun (1896–1981), the first of the novelists to emerge from the League of Left-Wing Writers and one whose work reflected the revolutionary struggle and disillusionment of

7672-518: The Hundred Schools and the Han dynasty , the period in which the great historical works of Sima Tan and Sima Qian were published. This neoclassical style dominated prose writing for the next 800 years. It was exemplified in the work of Han Yu (768–824), a master essayist and strong advocate of a return to Confucian orthodoxy; Han Yu was later listed as one of the "Eight Great Prose Masters of

7809-518: The Pacific coast. The series of events leading up to this began when Yue prepared to attack Qi to its north. The King of Qi sent an emissary who persuaded the King of Yue to attack Chu instead. Yue initiated a large-scale attack at Chu but was defeated by Chu's counter-attack. Chu then proceeded to conquer Yue. King Xian of Zhou had attempted to use what little royal prerogative he had left by appointing

7946-556: The Red Chamber . Many of these writers became important as administrators of artistic and literary policy after 1949. Most of those authors who were still alive during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) were either purged or forced to submit to public humiliation. The League of Left-Wing Writers founded in 1930 included Lu Xun among its leadership. By 1932 it had adopted the Soviet doctrine of socialist realism ; that is,

8083-533: The Republican era, Butterfly fiction would reach many more readers than its "progressive" counterpart. In the course of the New Culture Movement during the 1910s and 1920s decades, the vernacular language largely displaced the classical in all areas of literature and writing. Literary reformers Hu Shih (1891–1962) and Chen Duxiu (1880–1942) declared the classical language "dead" and promoted

8220-667: The Snowy Forest (Lin Hai Xue Yuan 林海雪原) by Qu Bo , Keep the Red Flag Flying (Hong Qi Pu 紅旗譜) by Liang Bin 梁斌, The Red Sun (Hong Ri 紅日) by Wu Qiang 吳強, and Red Crag by Luo Guangbin 羅廣斌 and Yang Yiyan (楊益言). During the 1960s, the Maoist view of class struggle focused on challenging revisionism within society through the socialist education movement , and, motivated by concerns that Party bureaucrats might become

8357-537: The Tang and Song". The Song dynasty saw the rise in popularity of "travel record literature" ( youji wenxue ). Travel literature combined both diary and narrative prose formats, it was practised by seasoned travellers like Fan Chengda (1126–1193) and Xu Xiake (1587–1641), and can be seen in the example of Su Shi 's Record of Stone Bell Mountain . After the 14th century, vernacular fiction became popular, at least outside of court circles. Vernacular fiction covered

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8494-660: The World of Letters , a 10th-century compilation of earlier works; Great Tang Records on the Western Regions completed by a pilgrim to India named Xuanzang in 646; Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang , the best known collection of Literary Chinese chuanqi from the Tang dynasty; and the Taiping Guangji , which preserved the corpus of these Tang dynasty tales. There was a range of less formal works either oral or using oral conventions, such as bianwen , pingshu , and huaben , which formed background to

8631-429: The Zhou court. This marked a major turning point: unlike those in the Spring and Autumn period , the new generation of rulers ascending the thrones in the Warring States period would not entertain even the pretence of being vassals of the Zhou dynasty, instead proclaiming themselves fully independent kingdoms. During the early Warring States period Qin generally avoided conflicts with the other states. This changed during

8768-552: The administration. The rise of Qin was recognized by the royal court, and in 343 BC the king conferred the title of Count (伯 Bó) on Duke Xiao. As was customary, a conference was hosted which the feudal lords attended, and during which the Son of Heaven bestowed the title. After the reforms Qin became much more aggressive. In 340 Qin took land from Wèi after it had been defeated by Qi. In 316 Qin conquered Shu and Ba in Sichuan to

8905-452: The alliance. In 383 BC it moved its capital to Handan and attacked the small state of Wey . Wey appealed to Wei which attacked Zhao on the western side. Being in danger, Zhao called in Chu. As usual, Chu used this as a pretext to annex territory to its north, but the diversion allowed Zhao to occupy a part of Wei. This conflict marked the end of the power of the united Jins and the beginning

9042-576: The anonymous 19 Old Poems . This collection reflects the emergence of a distinctive five-character line that later became shi poetry's most common line length. From the Jian'an reign period (196 – 220 AD) onward, the five-character line became a focus for innovations in style and theme. The Cao family, rulers of the Wei dynasty (220 – 265 AD) during the post-Han Three Kingdoms period, distinguished themselves as poets by writing poems filled with sympathy for

9179-453: The beginning of the Warring States period, Sima Qian 's choice of 475 BC is the most often cited. The era largely corresponds to the second half of the Eastern Zhou period, where the king of Zhou formally ruled as Chinese sovereign , but had lost political power and functioned in practice as a figurehead. This dynamic served as the backdrop for the machinations of the eponymous Warring States. The label "Warring States period" derives from

9316-522: The boundaries of the three states more rational. In 364 BC, Wei was defeated by Qin at the Battle of Shimen and was only saved by the intervention of Zhao. Qin won another victory in 362 BC. In 361 BC the Wei capital was moved east to Daliang to be out of the reach of Qin. In 354 BC, King Hui of Wei started a large-scale attack on Zhao. By 353 BC, Zhao was losing badly and its capital, Handan ,

9453-573: The center of the educational system. They have been grouped into two categories: the Five Classics , allegedly commented and edited by Confucius , and the Four Books . The Five Classics are: The Four Books are: Other important philosophical works include the Mohist Mozi , which taught "inclusive love" as both an ethical and social principle, and Hanfeizi , one of the central Legalist texts. Important Daoist classics include

9590-505: The concept of youmo (humor), which he used in trenchant criticism of China's political and cultural situation before leaving for the United States. Themes of "revolution plus love" became a left-wing literary fashion during the 1930s, although it was also criticized from the left including by Mao Dun. In this narrative formula, the story begins with conflict between the revolutionary mission and romantic love, followed by calls for

9727-426: The contemporary reign of Emperor Wu of Han while retaining an objective and non-biased standpoint. This was often difficult for the official dynastic historians, who used historical works to justify the reign of the current dynasty. He influenced the written works of many Chinese historians, including the works of Ban Gu and Ban Zhao in the 1st and 2nd centuries, and even Sima Guang 's 11th-century compilation of

9864-501: The course of transmission and revision, later Warring States strategists (and probably Han students)... added passages on cavalry and otherwise emended some of the terminology." By being a work which was the product of a famous historical figure, but amended by future generations of strategists, the Wuzi' s composition is very similar to most of the other Seven Military Classics . Chinese literature The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with

10001-419: The day-to-day struggles of soldiery and the common people. Taoist philosophy became a different, common theme for other poets, and a genre emphasizing true feeling emerged led by Ruan Ji (210–263). The landscape genre of Chinese nature poetry emerged under the brush of Xie Lingyun (385–433), as he innovated distinctively descriptive and complementary couplets composed of five-character lines. A farmland genre

10138-528: The description of objects. Reunified China's Tang dynasty (618–907) high culture set a high point for many things, including poetry. Various schools of Buddhism (a religion from India) flourished as represented by the Chan (or Zen) beliefs of Wang Wei (701–761). His quatrains ( jueju ) describing natural scenes are world-famous examples of excellence, each couplet conventionally containing about two distinct images or thoughts per line. Tang poetry's big star

10275-484: The diplomat Su Qin spent years visiting the courts of Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, Qi and Chu and persuaded them to form a united front against Qin. In 318 BC all states except Qi launched a joint attack on Qin, which was not successful. King Hui of Qin died in 311 BC, followed by prime minister Zhang Yi one year later. The new monarch, King Wu , reigned only four years before dying without legitimate heirs. Some damaging turbulence ensued throughout 307 BC before

10412-401: The dukes Xian (384–362 BC), Xiao (361–338 BC) and Hui (338–311 BC) of Qin as hegemons, thereby in theory making Qin the chief ally of the court. However, in 325 the confidence of Duke Hui grew so great that he proclaimed himself "king" of Qin; adopting the same title as the king of Zhou and thereby effectively proclaiming independence from the Zhou dynasty. King Hui of Qin

10549-477: The earliest layer of Chinese literature was influenced by oral traditions of different social and professional provenance: cult and lay musical practices ( Shijing ), divination ( Yi jing ), astronomy, exorcism. An attempt at tracing the genealogy of Chinese literature to religious spells and incantations (the six zhu 六祝, as presented in the "Da zhu" chapter of the Rites of Zhou ) was made by Liu Shipei. There

10686-538: The earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age . The Han (202 BC – 220 AD) and Tang (618–907 AD) dynasties were considered golden ages of poetry, while the Song (960–1279) and Yuan (1271–1368) were notable for their lyrics ( ci ), essays, dramas, and plays. During the Ming and Qing , mature novels were written in written vernacular Chinese , an evolution from

10823-422: The emergence of spoken drama. Most outstanding among playwrights of the day are Ouyang Yuqian , Hong Shen , Tian Han , and Cao Yu . More popular than this Western-style drama, however, was Peking opera, raised to new artistic heights by the likes of Mei Lanfang . In these decades, mass-appeal fiction which elites deemed culturally insignificant became known as "butterfly fiction," a label largely equivalent to

10960-465: The end of Jiang rule, and now openly assumed power. The new ruler set about reclaiming territories that had been lost to other states. He launched a successful campaign against Zhao, Wey and Wei, once again extending Qi territory to the Great Wall. Sima Qian writes that the other states were so awestruck that nobody dared attack Qi for more than 20 years. The demonstrated military prowess also had

11097-481: The establishment of four major families, the Han, Zhao, Wei and Zhi. The Battle of Jinyang saw the allied Han, Zhao and Wei destroy the Zhi family (453 BC) and their lands were distributed among them. With this, they became the de facto rulers of most of Jin's territory, though this situation would not be officially recognised until half a century later. The Jin division created a political vacuum that enabled during

11234-411: The first 50 years expansion of Chu and Yue northward and Qi southward. Qin increased its control of the local tribes and began its expansion southwest to Sichuan . In 403 BC, the court of King Weilie of Zhou officially recognized Zhao, Wei and Han as immediate vassals, thereby raising them to the same rank as the other warring states. From before 405 until 383 BC the three Jins were united under

11371-604: The importance of gaining the strong support and loyalty of the common people. Because of its focus on the importance of civil administration as a necessary aid to military strength, the Wuzi stresses the implementation of Confucian policies designed to improve the material welfare of the people, gain their emotional support, and support their moral virtues. Harmony and organization are equally important to each other: without harmony, an organization will not be cohesive; but, without organization, harmony will not be effective in achieving collective goals. There are three steps to achieving

11508-706: The incorporation of new registers of language. However, the poetry scene was still dominated by the adherents to the Tongguang School (named after the Tongzhi and Guangxu reigns of the Qing), whose leaders— Chen Yan (陳衍), Chen Sanli (陳三立), Zheng Xiaoxu (鄭孝胥), and Shen Zengzhi (沈曾植)—promoted a Song style in the manner of Huang Tingjian. These poets would become the objects of scorn by New Culturalists like Hu Shih , who saw their work as overly allusive, artificial, and divorced from contemporary reality. In drama,

11645-560: The insistence that art must concentrate on contemporary events in a realistic way, exposing the ills of nonsocialist society and promoting a glorious future under communism . Other styles of literature were at odds with the highly-political literature being promoted by the League. The " New Sensationists " (新感覺派)—a group of writers based in Shanghai who were influenced, to varying degrees, by Western and Japanese modernism—wrote fiction that

11782-460: The lack of surviving copies, there is no consensus among modern scholars concerning the latest date of the Wuzi' s final composition, but the core of the work is nominally assumed to have been composed around Wu Qi's lifetime (440–381 BC), in the mid- Warring States period. Historical references indicate that the Wuzi was very famous and popular in both the Warring States period and in the Han dynasty . In addition to strategic/tactical studies and

11919-413: The late 1920s; satirist and novelist Lao She (1899–1966); and Ba Jin (1904–2005), a novelist whose work was influenced by Ivan Turgenev and other Russian writers. In the 1930s Ba Jin produced a trilogy that depicted the struggle of modern youth against the age-old dominance of the Confucian family system. Comparison often is made between Jia (Family), one of the novels in the trilogy, and Dream of

12056-679: The late Qing saw the emergence of the new "civilized drama" (文明戲), a hybrid of Chinese operatic drama with Western-style spoken drama. Peking opera and "reformed Peking opera" were also popular at the time. The literary scene in the first few years before the collapse of the Qing in 1911 was dominated by popular love stories, some written in the classical language and some in the vernacular. This entertainment fiction would later be labeled " Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies " fiction by New Culturalists, who despised its lack of social engagement. Throughout much of

12193-462: The late imperial period and the late Qing, they had been few in number. These writers generally tackled domestic issues, such as relations between the sexes, family, friendship and war, Eileen Chang's writing uses the spatial specificities of the modern apartment as essential to the construction of a vision of life in wartime. But they were revolutionary in giving direct expression to female subjectivity. Ding Ling 's story Miss Sophia's Diary exposes

12330-641: The latest date for the writing of the Guodian Chu Slips unearthed in a Hubei tomb in 1993. The Book of Documents included early information on geography in the Yu Gong chapter. The Bamboo Annals found in 281 AD in the tomb of the King of Wei, who was interred in 296 BC, provide another example; however, unlike the Zuo Zhuan , the authenticity of the early date of the Bamboo Annals

12467-540: The leadership of Wei and expanded in all directions. The most important figure was Marquess Wen of Wei (445–396 BC). In 408–406 BC he conquered the State of Zhongshan to the northeast on the other side of Zhao. At the same time he pushed west across the Yellow River to the Luo River taking the area of Xihe (literally 'west of the [Yellow] river'). The growing power of Wei caused Zhao to back away from

12604-528: The minor scholar-official Song Yingxing (1587–1666) and his Tiangong Kaiwu . The rich tradition of Chinese poetry began with two influential collections. In northern China, the Shijing or Classic of Poetry (approx. 11th–7th century BC) comprises over 300 poems in a variety of styles ranging from those with a strong suggestion of folk music to ceremonial hymns. The word shi has the basic meaning of poem or poetry, as well as its use in criticism to describe one of China's lyrical poetic genres. Confucius

12741-495: The national guideline for culture after the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Consistent with political goals of mobilizing the masses, literary depictions of Party cadres became important. Literature of the period represented good cadres as those who took the lead on the road to socialism while adopting a theme of antibureaucratism to criticize cadres who sought special privileges. After coming to power in 1949,

12878-442: The newly crowned King Min have him publicly executed to draw out the assassins. King Min complied with Su's request and killed him, putting an end to the first generation of Vertical alliance thinkers. King Min of Qi came to be highly influenced by Lord Mengchang , a grandson of the former King Wei of Qi . Lord Mengchang made a westward alliance with the states of Wei and Han . In the far west, Qin, which had been weakened by

13015-545: The people" to mount attacks on " petty bourgeois idealism" and "humanitarianism". This conflict came to a head in the Hundred Flowers Campaign (1956–57). Mao Zedong initially encouraged writers to speak out against problems in the new society. Having learned the lessons of the anti-Hu Feng campaign, they were reluctant, but then a flurry of newspaper articles, films, and literary works drew attention to such problems as bureaucratism and authoritarianism within

13152-476: The philosophy of war, the Wuzi pays significant attention to the logistical achievement of war preparedness. The philosophical content of the work mainly consists of a synthesis between Confucianism and Legalism . The work attempts to resolve a humanistic (Confucian) concern for moral values and benevolent government with an administrative (Legalist) need for strict, predictable rewards and punishments. The attempted synthesis between Confucian and Legalist values

13289-426: The popularity of the Wuzi , in both the Warring States and the Han dynasty , with that of Sun Tzu's Art of War . There is evidence that, in the Warring States , two different texts titled " Wuzi " existed, but (at least) one of them has been lost. The fact that large portions of the text seem to have been either lost or deliberately excised from surviving editions makes the dating of the work more challenging. There

13426-554: The preeminence of Literary Chinese patterned off the language of the Chinese classics . The introduction of widespread woodblock printing during the Tang and the invention of movable type printing by Bi Sheng (990–1051) during the Song rapidly spread written knowledge throughout China. Around the turn of the 20th century, the author Lu Xun (1881–1936) is considered an influential voice of vernacular Chinese literature. Formation of

13563-522: The printed the Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China (1726), which featured over 100 million written Chinese characters in over 800,000 pages, printed in 60 different copies using copper -metal Chinese movable type printing. Other great encyclopedic writers include the polymath scientist Shen Kuo (1031–1095) and his Dream Pool Essays , the agronomist and inventor Wang Zhen ( fl. 1290–1333) and his Nongshu , and

13700-402: The protagonists to devote themselves to revolution and set aside their personal feelings, and ultimately results in the couple working together for the revolution in a form of love itself. As described by academic David Der-Wei Wang , "[R]evolution plus love functioned both as a literary trope, titillating and sustaining a society's desire for self-reform, and as a political mandate, calling for

13837-472: The ranks of the party. Shocked at the level of discontent, Mao's Anti-Rightist Movement put large numbers of intellectuals through "thought reform" or sent them to labor camps. At the time of the Great Leap Forward (1957–59), the government increased its insistence on the use of socialist realism and combined with it so-called revolutionary realism and revolutionary romanticism. Class struggle

13974-612: The redisposition of the social body in both public and personal spheres." During the Second Sino-Japanese War , there was a revival of writing classical-style poetry. The Chinese Communist Party had established a base after the Long March in Yan'an . In 1942, Mao Zedong gave a series of lectures called " Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Art and Literature " that clearly made literature subservient to politics via

14111-415: The reign of Duke Xiao , when prime minister Shang Yang made centralizing and authoritarian reforms in accordance with his Legalist philosophy between the years 356 and 338 BC. Shang introduced land reforms, privatized land, rewarded farmers who exceeded harvest quotas, enslaved farmers who failed to meet quotas, and used enslaved subjects as rewards for those who met government policies. As manpower

14248-434: The relative terrain and weather of the engagement; the national character of the combatants; the enemy commander's personal history and characteristics; and, the relative morale, discipline, fatigue, number, and general quality of both friendly and enemy forces. In gathering this information, and in preventing the enemy from gaining it, espionage and deception are paramount. Because of the lack of archaeological evidence, there

14385-605: The seven-character line also contributed to the emerging posthumous fame of Du Fu, now ranked alongside Li Bai. The distinctively different ci poetry form began its development during the Tang as Central Asian and other musical influences flowed through its cosmopolitan society. China's Song dynasty (960–1279), another reunification era after a brief period of disunity, initiated a fresh high culture. Several of its greatest poets were capable government officials as well including Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072), Su Shi (1037–1101), and Wang Anshi (1021–1086). The ci form flourished as

14522-466: The seven-character line, writing denser poems with more allusions as he aged, experiencing hardship and writing about it. A parade of great Tang poets also includes Chen Zi'ang (661–702), Wang Zhihuan (688–742), Meng Haoran (689–740), Bai Juyi (772–846), Li He (790–816), Du Mu (803–852), Wen Tingyun (812–870), (listed chronologically) and Li Shangyin (813–858), whose poetry delights in allusions that often remain obscure, and whose emphasis on

14659-471: The smaller states of the Central Plain tended to be their satellites and tributaries. Other major states also existed, such as Wu and Yue in the southeast. The last decades of the Spring and Autumn era were marked by increased stability, as the result of peace negotiations between Jin and Chu which established their respective spheres of influence. This situation ended with the partition of Jin, whereby

14796-440: The society. With the rise of monetary economy and urbanization beginning in the Song dynasty, there was a growing professionalization of entertainment fostered by the spread of printing, the rise of literacy and education. In both China and Europe, the novel gradually became more autobiographical and serious in exploration of social, moral, and philosophical problems. Chinese fiction of the late Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty

14933-456: The south invaded Wei. On the verge of conquering Wei, the leaders of Zhao and Han fell into disagreement about what to do with Wei, and both armies abruptly retreated. As a result, King Hui of Wei (still a Marquess at the time) was able to ascend the throne of Wei. Zhao extended from the Shanxi plateau across the plain to the borders of Qi. Wei reached east to Qi, Lu , and Song . To the south,

15070-447: The southwest. Development of this area took a long time but slowly added greatly to Qin's wealth and power. In 341 BC, Wei attacked Han. Qi allowed Han to be nearly defeated and then intervened. The generals from the Battle of Guiling met again ( Sun Bin and Tian Ji versus Pang Juan ), using the same tactic, attacking Wei's capital. Sun Bin feigned a retreat and then turned on the overconfident Wei troops and decisively defeated them at

15207-489: The state was divided between the houses of Han, Zhao and Wei, leading to the seven major warring states. The rulers of Jin had steadily lost political powers since the middle of the 6th century BC to their nominally subordinate nobles and military commanders, a situation arising from the traditions of the Jin which forbade the enfeoffment of relatives of the ducal house. This allowed other clans to gain fiefs and military authority, and decades of internecine struggle led to

15344-487: The states, recommending that the rulers put their respective ideas into use. These "lobbyists", such as Su Qin , who advocated vertical alliances, and Zhang Yi , who advocated horizontal alliances, were famous for their tact and intellect, and were collectively known as the School of Diplomacy , whose Chinese name ( 縱橫家 'the school of the vertical and horizontal') was derived from the two opposing ideas. Beginning in 334 BC

15481-549: The struggle women confronted in establishing their voices in a changing China. These Modern Girls were sometimes disillusioned with modernity. Male-authored works often portrayed the Modern Girl as a femme fatale who rejected chastity in favor of bodily pleasure and consumerism. The "New Woman" frequently emphasized nationalistic themes. Both of these archetypes appeared in literature dealing with debates over birth control and abortion in China . The 1920s and 1930s saw

15618-399: The text, but cannot account for some content that seems to have been inserted as late as the Han dynasty (possibly in an effort to "update" the work). The following five points summarize this study's conclusions regarding the Wuzi' s date of composition. The writings of Wu Qi were known to be in wide circulation by the late Warring States period. The assertion of the book's early popularity

15755-421: The thoughts and feelings of its female diarist in all their complexity. In the Republican period, the female literary archetypes of the "New Woman" and the "Modern Girl" developed as a response to the Confucian ideal of "good wives" and "wise mothers." Depictions of these new feminine archetypes often varied significantly between female and male writers. In literature written by women, the Modern Girl represented

15892-632: The time. In the first twenty years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, many literary works addressed the close relationship between rural Chinese and the Communist Party. At the same time, from the 1950s, in Taiwan has flourished modernist poetry , including avant-garde and surrealism , led by Qin Zihao (1902–1963) and Ji Xian (b. 1903). Warring States While scholars have identified several different dates as marking

16029-410: The traditional topic headings would suggest, they depict the subject matter and general scope of the book as a whole. As a young man, Wu Qi spent a formative three years as a student of Confucianism. After gaining several years of administrative experience, he came to believe that, in order for benevolence and righteousness to survive in his time, military strength and preparation were necessary. Without

16166-520: The translations of Yan Fu (嚴復) (1864–1921) and Lin Shu (林紓) (1852–1924). In this climate, a boom in the writing of fiction occurred, especially after the 1905 abolition of the civil service examination when literati struggled to fill new social and cultural roles for themselves. Stylistically, this fiction shows signs of both the Chinese novelistic tradition and Western narrative modes. In subject matter, it

16303-406: The vibrant vernacular in its stead. Hu Shih once said, "A dead language can never produce a living literature." In terms of literary practice, Lu Xun (1881–1936) is usually said to be the first major stylist in the new vernacular prose that Hu Shih and Chen Duxiu were promoting. Another female writer who, in the words of scholar Nicole Huang, "persistently experimented with new literary language"

16440-423: The weaker state of Han held the east–west part of the Yellow River valley, surrounded the Zhou royal domain at Luoyang and held an area north of Luoyang called Shangdang . Duke Kang of Qi died in 379 BC with no heir from the house of Jiang, which had ruled Qi since the state's founding. The throne instead passed to the future King Wei , from the house of Tian. The Tian had been very influential at court towards

16577-590: The year 841 BC, at the beginning of the Gonghe Regency of the Western Zhou dynasty . The earliest known narrative history of China was the Zuo Zhuan , which was compiled no later than 389 BC, and attributed to the blind 5th-century BC historian Zuo Qiuming . The Book of Documents is thought to have been compiled as far back as the 6th century BC, and was certainly compiled by the 4th century BC,

16714-625: Was a frequent narrative structure and political mode of expression in literature of the late 1950s. These narratives depicted class struggle as a way to resolve social conflict, usually through the protagonists uncovering a conspiracy between new and old class enemies. Despite the literary control and strictures to limit subjects to contemporary China and the glories of the revolution, writers produced widely read novels of energy and commitment. Examples of this new socialist literature include The Builder (Chuangye Shi 創業史) by Liu Qing 柳青, The Song of Youth (Qing Chun Zhi Ge 青春之歌) by Yang Mo , Tracks in

16851-452: Was a shift in alliances because each state's ruler wanted independence. This caused hundreds of wars between 535 and 286 BC. The victorious state would have overall rule and control in China. The system of feudal states created by the Western Zhou dynasty underwent enormous changes after 771 BC with the flight of the Zhou court to modern-day Luoyang and the diminution of its relevance and power. The Spring and Autumn period led to

16988-626: Was also the first in a tradition of Chinese military treatises, such as the Wujing Zongyao ( Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques , 1044 AD) and the Huolongjing ( Fire Dragon Manual , 14th century AD). The Chinese kept consistent and accurate court records, and although their calendars varied from court to court, these disparate records could be aligned without evident contradiction by

17125-535: Was born in obscurity by Tao Qian (365–427) also known as Tao Yuanming as he labored in his fields and then wrote extolling the influence of wine. Toward the close of this period in which many later-developed themes were first experimented with, the Xiao family of the Southern Liang dynasty (502–557) engaged in highly refined and often denigrated court-style poetry lushly describing sensual delights as well as

17262-429: Was common until the early Warring States period, but disappeared in later Chinese history. The fact that the Wuzi was written from the perspective of an official with both civil and martial responsibilities supports the theory that it dates from the early Warring States . Qing scholastic criticism discounted the possible authenticity of the text based on its mention of military practices then considered anachronous to

17399-494: Was completed by Ouyang Xun in 624 during the Tang dynasty , with aid from scholars Linghu Defen and Chen Shuda . During the Song dynasty , the compilation of the Four Great Books of Song (10th century – 11th century), begun by Li Fang and completed by Cefu Yuangui , represented a massive undertaking of written material covering a wide range of different subjects. This included the Taiping Guangji (978),

17536-519: Was driven out of Qin. The remaining three allies, Qi, Wei and Han, attacked Qin, driving up the Yellow River below Shanxi to the Hangu Pass . After 3 years of fighting they took the pass and forced Qin to return territory to Han and Wei. They next inflicted major defeats on Yan and Chu. During the 5-year administration of Lord Mengchang, Qi was the major power in China. In 294, Lord Mengchang

17673-477: Was guided by his prime minister Zhang Yi , a prominent representative of the School of Diplomacy . He was followed in 323 BC by King Xuanhui of Han and King Yi of Yan , as well as King Cuo of the minor state Zhongshan. In 318 BC even the ruler of Song , a relatively minor state, declared himself king. Uniquely, while King Wuling of Zhao had joined the other kings in declaring himself king, he retracted this order in 318 BC, after Zhao suffered

17810-437: Was held by figurehead rulers of the Zhou dynasty, while the rulers of most states held the title of duke ( gong , 公 ) or marquess ( hou , 侯 ). A major exception was Chu, whose rulers were called kings since King Wu of Chu started using the title c.  703 BC . In 344 BC the rulers of Qi and Wei mutually recognized each other as kings: King Wei of Qi and King Hui of Wei , in effect declaring their independence from

17947-507: Was implicated in a coup d'état and fled to Wei. His alliance system collapsed. Qi and Qin made a truce and pursued their own interests. Qi moved south against the state of Song whilst the Qin General Bai Qi pushed back eastward against a Han/Wei alliance, gaining victory at the Battle of Yique . In 288, King Zhao of Qin and King Min of Qi took the title di ( 帝 'emperor'), of the west and east respectively. They swore

18084-484: Was more concerned with the unconscious and with aesthetics than with politics or social problems. Most important among these writers were Mu Shiying , Liu Na'ou (劉吶鷗), and Shi Zhecun . Other writers, including Shen Congwen and Fei Ming (廢名), balked at the utilitarian role for literature by writing lyrical, almost nostalgic, depictions of the countryside. Lin Yutang , who had studied at Harvard and Leipzig, introduced

18221-404: Was short in Qin relative to the other states at the time, Shang enacted policies to increase its manpower. As Qin peasants were recruited into the military, he encouraged active immigration of peasants from other states into Qin as a replacement workforce; this policy simultaneously increased the manpower of Qin and weakened the manpower of Qin's rivals. Shang made laws forcing citizens to marry at

18358-609: Was the Shiji , or Records of the Grand Historian written by Han dynasty court historian Sima Qian (145 BC – 90 BC). This groundbreaking text laid the foundation for Chinese historiography and the many official Chinese historical texts compiled for each dynasty thereafter. Sima Qian is often compared to the Greek Herodotus in scope and method, because he covered Chinese history from the mythical Xia dynasty until

18495-503: Was then considered to be southern China, the Chuci is ascribed to Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 BC) and his follower Song Yu (fl. 3rd century BC) and is distinguished by its more emotionally intense affect, often full of despair and descriptions of the fantastic. In some of its sections, the Chu Ci uses a six-character per line meter, dividing these lines into couplets separated in the middle by

18632-461: Was under siege. The state of Qi intervened. The famous Qi strategist, Sun Bin the great-great-great-grandson of Sun Tzu , the author of the Art of War , proposed to attack the Wei capital while the Wei army was tied up besieging Zhao. The strategy was a success; the Wei army hastily moved south to protect its capital, was caught on the road and decisively defeated at the Battle of Guiling . The battle

18769-648: Was varied, self-conscious, and experimental. Scholars now tend to agree that modern Chinese literature did not erupt suddenly in the New Culture Movement (1910s–1920s). Instead, they trace its origins back at least to the late Qing period (1895–1911) and at most to the 17th century. The late Qing was a period of intellectual ferment sparked by a sense of national crisis. Intellectuals began to seek solutions to China's problems outside of its own tradition. They translated works of Western expository writing and literature, which enthralled readers with new ideas and opened up windows onto new exotic cultures. Most outstanding were

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