Editing History of literature (section)

===Ancient China===
{{Main|Chinese classics|Classical Chinese poetry}}

==== Zhou dynasty ====
[[File:Rongo Analects 02.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Analects]]'' of Confucius]]
[[Chinese mythology]] played a notable role in the earliest Chinese literature, though it was less prominent compared to mythological literature in other civilizations. By the time of the [[Zhou dynasty]], Chinese culture emphasized the community over the individual, discouraging mythological stories of great personages and characterization of the divine. Mythological literature was more common in the southern [[Chu (state)|Chu]] nation.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|p=7}} The ''[[Tao Te Ching]]'' and the [[Zhuangzi (book)|''Zhuangzi'']] are philosophical compilations that serve as the foundation of Taoism.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|pp=62–63}} [[Confucius]] was a defining figure in ancient Chinese [[Ancient Chinese philosophy|philosophy]] and [[Ancient Chinese political systems|politics]]. He collected the [[Six Classics]] as founding texts of [[Confucianism]], and they became the central texts by which other works were compared in Chinese literary scholarship. Confucianism dominated literary tastes in Ancient China starting in the [[Warring States period]].<ref name=":1" /> The sayings of Confucius were later compiled into the ''[[Analects]]'' by his students.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|p=64}}

[[Anthology|Anthologies]] were common in Ancient China, and anthologizing was used as a means of literary criticism to determine literary classics.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Chengxue |first1=W. U. |last2=Hongbing |first2=S. H. A. |date=2007-01-01 |title=The classics of ancient Chinese literature |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/flsc/1/1/article-p50_3.xml |journal=Frontiers of Literary Studies in China |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=50–79 |doi=10.1007/s11702-007-0003-9 |s2cid=195069499 |issn=1673-7423}}</ref> The ''[[Classic of Poetry]]'', one of the Six Classics, is the oldest existing anthology of Chinese poetry. It comprises 305 works by anonymous authors dating from the 12th to 7th centuries BC. Prior to the collection of these works, poetic tradition in Ancient China was primarily oral.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wang |first=C. H. |title=Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2000 |isbn=9789629960483 |editor-last=Minford |editor-first=John |pages=71 |chapter=The Book of Songs: The Earliest Anthology of Chinese Poetry |editor-last2=Lau |editor-first2=Joseph S. M.}}</ref> The ''[[Chu Ci]]'' anthology is a volume of poems from the Warring States period written in Chu and attributed to [[Qu Yuan]]. These poems were written as rhapsodies that were meant to be recited with a specific tone rather than sung.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|pp=31–35}} The [[Music Bureau]] was developed during the Zhou dynasty, establishing a governmental role for the collection of musical works and folk songs that would persist throughout Chinese history.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|p=137}}

Historical documents developed into an early form of literature during the Warring States period, as documentation was combined with narrative and sometimes with legendary accounts of history.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|pp=11–12}} Two of the Six Classics, the ''[[Book of Documents]]'' and the ''[[Spring and Autumn Annals]]'', are historical documents. The latter inspired works of historical commentary that became a genre in their own right, including the ''[[Zuo Zhuan]]'', the ''[[Gongyang Zhuan]]'', and the ''[[Guliang Zhuan]]''. The ''Zuo Zhuan'' is considered to be the first large scale narrative work in Chinese literature.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|pp=51–55}} ''[[The Art of War]]'' by [[Sun Tzu]] was an influential book on military strategy that is still referenced in the modern era.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Petraeus |first=David |author-link=David Petraeus |date=2018-03-26 |title='The Art of War': As relevant now as when it was written |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-art-of-war-as-relevant-now-as-when-it-was-written-1.3440724 |access-date=2022-09-14 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723205516/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-art-of-war-as-relevant-now-as-when-it-was-written-1.3440724 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Qin and Han dynasties ====
{{Further|Han poetry}}

Poetry written in the brief period of the [[Qin dynasty]] has been entirely lost. Poetry in the [[Han dynasty]] diverged as several branches developed, including short length, paralleled exposition, rhymed exposition, and ancient style, and [[idealism]] also became popular during the Han dynasty.<ref name=":1" /> The ''[[Nineteen Old Poems]]'' were written at this time, though how they came about is the subject of debate.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|p=131}} Poetry during this period abandoned tetrasyllabic verse in favor of pentasyllabic verse. The ballads of Chu spread through China and became widely popular, often focusing on concepts of inevitable destiny and fate.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|pp=125–127}}

Political and argumentative literature by government officials dominated Chinese prose during this period, though even these works often engaged in lyricism and metaphor. [[Jia Yi]] was an essayist known for his emotional political treatises such as ''[[The Faults of Qin]]''. [[Chao Cuo]] was an essayist known for treatises that were meticulous rather than emotional. Confucianism continued to dictate philosophical works, though a movement of works criticizing contemporary application of Confucianism began with [[Wang Chong]] in his ''[[Lunheng]]''. Prose literature meant for entertainment also developed during this period.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|pp=101–105}} Historical literature was revolutionized by the ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'', the first general history of ancient times and the largest work of literature to that point in time.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|p=113}}

==== Six Dynasties ====
{{Further|Six Dynasties poetry}}
Centralism declined during the Six Dynasties period, and Confucianism lost influence as a predominating ideology. This caused the rise of many local traditions of philosophical literature, including that of Taoist and Buddhist ideas.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|pp=149–150}} Prose fiction during the Wei and Jin dynasties consisted mainly of supernatural folklore, including those presented as historical.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|pp=189–190}} This tradition of supernatural fiction continued during the Northern and Southern dynasties with the ''Records of Light and Shade'' attributed to [[Liu Yiqing]].{{Sfn|Luo|2011|p=261}} Another genre of prose was collections of short biographical or anecdotal impressions, of which only ''[[A New Account of the Tales of the World]]'' survives.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|p=263}}

[[Jian'an poetry]] developed from the literary tradition of Eastern Han, incorporating idiosyncrasies and strong demonstrations of emotion to express individualism. This movement was led by then-ruler of China [[Cao Cao]]. The [[poetry of Cao Cao]] consisted of ensemble songs published through the Music Bureau and performed with music.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|pp=152–154}} The [[Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove]] were influential poets in the Wei dynasty mid-3rd century, addressing political and philosophical concerns directly in their poetry.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|p=167}} Chinese poetry developed significantly during the [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Jin dynasty]], incorporating [[Parallelism (rhetoric)|parallelism]], [[Prosody (linguistics)|prosody]], and emotional expression through scenery. [[Zhang Hua]], [[Lu Ji (Shiheng)|Lu Ji]], and [[Pan Yue (poet)|Pan Yue]] are recognized as the great poets that developed early Western Jin poetry.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|p=173}} [[Zuo Si]] and [[Liu Kun (Jin dynasty)|Liu Kun]] were poets in later Western Jin.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|pp=178–180}} In Eastern Jin, philosophical poetry went through a period of abstraction that removed much of its literary elements. [[Guo Pu]] and [[Tao Yuanming]] were notable poets in Eastern Jin.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|pp=181–184}}

The popularity of literary poetry and [[aestheticism]] grew during the [[Southern dynasties]], and literature as art began to be recognized as distinct from political and philosophical literature.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|p=194}} This resulted in the growth of literary criticism, with ''[[The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons]]'' and [[Zhong Rong|''Ranking of Poetry'']] being written at this time.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|pp=197–201}} The [[Sixteen Kingdoms]] of the [[Northern dynasties]] saw little cultural growth due to their instability, and Northern literature of this time was typically influenced by the Southern dynasties.{{Sfn|Luo|2011|p=233}} [[Shanshui poetry]] also became prominent in Six Dynasties poetry.<ref name=":1" />