A History of Chinese Literature

The cover image was produced by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

BY HERBERT A. GILES, M. A., LL. D. (Aberd.) PROFESSOR OF CHINESE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE AND LATE H. B. M. CONSUL AT NINGPO
NEW YORK AND LONDON D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1927

Copyright, 1901, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
Printed in the United States of America

This is the first attempt made in any language, including Chinese, to produce a history of Chinese literature.
Native scholars, with their endless critiques and appreciations of individual works, do not seem ever to have contemplated anything of the kind, realising, no doubt, the utter hopelessness, from a Chinese point of view, of achieving even comparative success in a general historical survey of the subject. The voluminous character of a literature which was already in existence some six centuries before the Christian era, and has run on uninterruptedly until the present date, may well have given pause to writers aiming at completeness. The foreign student, however, is on a totally different footing. It may be said without offence that a work which would be inadequate to the requirements of a native public, may properly be submitted to English readers as an introduction into the great field which lies beyond.
Acting upon the suggestion of Mr. Gosse, to whom I am otherwise indebted for many valuable hints, I have devoted a large portion of this book to translation, thus enabling the Chinese author, so far as translation will allow, to speak for himself. I have also added, here and there, remarks by native critics, that the reader may be able to form an idea of the point of view from which the Chinese judge their own productions.
It only remains to be stated that the translations, with the exception of a few passages from Legge’s “Chinese Classics,” in each case duly acknowledged, are my own.