ASIAN LITERATURE
ACTIVITY 1: COMPLETE ME!
• Directions: Read the statements and complete the puzzle that
follows. Write your answers in your activity notebook.
• 1. A famous philosopher in ancient Chinese history. C __ n __ __ __ i
__ s
• 2. The mystic philosophy inspired by Chinese philosopher Lau Tzu. T
__ _ i __ __
• 3. The oldest collection of Chinese poetry. T __ e B __ __ __ __ f P __
__t r__
• 4. The first writer in Chinese to win Nobel Prize in literature. M _ Y __
__
• 5. Chinese literature has very _______ beginnings. A __ __ i e__ t
CHINESE LITERATURE: AN OVERVIEW
• Chinese literature began more than two thousand years ago, with
The Book of Poetry (Shijing) as its first anthology. This book,
compiled sometime after 600 B.C. by Confucius (551-479 B.C.), is
a collection of 305 poems that date back to a period between
approximately 800 and 600 B.C. Among the rhetorical devices
employed in this first poem of The Book of Poetry is the use of
metaphor – crying ospreys compared to the lord and lady for
instance. Following The Book of Poetry, highlights of traditional
Chinese literature include The Songs of the South (Chuci); the
prose writing in history and philosophy of the Qin and Han
dynasties; Tang poetry; the Song lyric; the prose of the Tang and
Song dynasties; and the short stories, novels, and dramas from
the Tang to the Qing dynasties.
• The modern period of Chinese literature, which began in 1910s, is
even more multifarious and voluminous. Running the risk of
abstraction and oversimplification, Chinese literature is
characterized as the expression of both the heart and the mind,
as concerning the individual and society, as variously sublime and
graceful, and as blending reality and the imagination. Traditional
Chinese literature developed under the intellectual influences of
Confucianism, Daoism (Taoism), and Buddhism. Confucianism
preaches benevolence, righteousness, individual effort,
commitment to society, and harmony among people. Traditional
Chinese literature came under the influence of Christianity in the
Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644), when Western missionaries made
their way to China. As music is related to poetry, traditional
Chinese poetry was inevitably influenced by the music of the non-
Chinese ethnic groups who resided mostly on the Chinese
• Chinese literature in the twentieth century made a dramatic turn to
the West. This change affected not just literature but virtually all
aspects of Chinese culture. To be sure, twentieth-century Chinese
literature has been receptive to the literary works of such Eastern
countries as India and Japan, but the presence of the West is quite
overwhelming. In Modern times, Chinese writers have remained
prolific. Though the social impact of literature may be as
monumental as it was in the past, the Chinese literary tradition is
nevertheless prosperous. Notable names include Mo Yan, a fictionist
who won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature. Remarkable too were
the novels of Yu Hua, Wang Shuo and Shi Tiesheng, and the stories of
Gao Xiaosheng, Wang Zengqi, and Zhang Chenzhi. As religion, war,
and politics shaped Asian societies, literature prospered to mirror
these developments. As children of this continent, we need to
appreciate the literary outputs of our Asian neighbors.
LIU XIA- A Chinese poet,
painter and
photographer. She had
been awarded the novel
prize “Empty Chairs in
JIAN MING- Is a Chinese
poet, writer, literary critic
and editor. One of his
notable work “Noble” , He
used the pen name Zhang
LIU SHAHE- Original name
YU XUNTAN, a chinese
writer and poet, notable
works “The country
Noctures’ she dies from
throat cancer at the age
JIDI MAJIA- He was
mentored by the poet Ai
Qing and gained national
atention when his
collection “Song of Love”
won the third China
REN HANG- He was a
chincese photographer
and poet. He died at the
age og 29. He was known
mostly for nude
photographic portraits art
WANG GOUZHEN- Is a
renowned chinese poet,
one of his notable work “I
Smile to Live” he passed
away from a liver cancer.
WANG PING - A chinese
American professor, poet,
writter, multimedia artist. Her
publication have been
translated into a multiple
languages includes poetry,
short stories, notable work
XU PEI - A chinese born
German poet, writer and
human rights activist
notable work “SNOW
MEN”
YU XIUHUA - Notable work “We
love and the forgot” She lives in
a small town of Hendian, China
and has cerebral palsy resulting
in speech and mobility
difficulties. Dispite this, she
write poetry as of january 2015
XIUHUA had writen over two
FU TIANLIN - She was
born in the province of
Sichuan. She wrote ten
poems and prose
collection, notable work
BATTLE
by Ch'ü Yüan (332–295 B.C.)
translated by Arthur Waley
"We grasp our battle-spears: we don our breast-plates of
hide. The axles of our chariots touch: our short swords
meet. Standards obscure the sun: the foe roll up like clouds.
Arrows fall thick: the warriors press forward. They menace
our ranks: they break our line. The left-hand trace-horse is
dead: the one on the right is smitten. The fallen horses
block our wheels: they impede the yoke-horses!“
They grasp their jade drum-sticks: they beat the sounding
drums. Heaven decrees their fall: the dread Powers are
angry.
The warriors are all dead: they lie on the moor-field.
They issued but shall not enter: they went but shall
not return. The plains are flat and wide; the way
home is long. Their swords lie beside them: their
black bows, in their hand.
Though their limbs were torn, their hearts could not
be repressed. They were more than brave: they were
inspired with the spirit of "Wu." Steadfast to the end,
they could not be daunted. Their bodies were
stricken, but their souls have taken Immortality —
Captains among the ghosts, heroes among the dead.
CROSSING HALF OF CHINA TO SLEEP
WITH YOU
BY YU XIUHUA TRANSLATED BY MING DI
• To sleep with you or to be slept, what’s the difference if there’s
any? Two bodies collide – the force, the flower pushed open by the
force, 5 the virtual spring in the flowering – nothing more than this
and this we mistake as life restarting. In half of China things are
happening: volcanoes erupting, rivers running dry, political
prisoners and displaced workers abandoned, elk deer and red-
crowned cranes shot. I cross the hail of bullets to sleep with you. I
press many nights into one morning to sleep with you. I run across
many of me and many of me run into one to sleep with you. Yet I
can be misled by butterflies of course and mistake praise as
spring, a village like Hengdian as home. But all these, all of these
are absolutely indispensable reasons that I sleep with you.
• Activity 1. Answer Me Description. This will help you critically
analyze poetry. Directions: Answer the following questions. Write
your answers in your activity notebook.
[Link] emotions did you feel after reading the poem? Why did
you feel that way?
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2. How would you compare the two poems? Which elements do
they share, and what differences do they have?
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3. What message does each poem convey?
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ACTIVITY 2