PREFACE
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.
HERBERT A. GILES.
Cambridge.
CONTENTS
| BOOK THE FIRST—THE FEUDAL PERIOD (B.C. 600-200) | |
| CHAP. | PAGE |
| I. LEGENDARY AGES—EARLY CHINESE CIVILISATION—ORIGIN OF WRITING | [3] |
| II. CONFUCIUS—THE FIVE CLASSICS | [7] |
| III. THE FOUR BOOKS—MENCIUS | [32] |
| IV. MISCELLANEOUS WRITERS | [43] |
| V. POETRY—INSCRIPTIONS | [50] |
| VI. TAOISM—THE “TAO-TÊ-CHING” | [56] |
| BOOK THE SECOND—THE HAN DYNASTY (B.C. 200-A.D. 200) | |
| I. THE “FIRST EMPEROR”—THE BURNING OF THE BOOKS—MISCELLANEOUS WRITERS | [77] |
| II. POETRY | [97] |
| III. HISTORY—LEXICOGRAPHY | [102] |
| IV. BUDDHISM | [110] |
| BOOK THE THIRD—MINOR DYNASTIES (A.D. 200-600) | |
| I. POETRY—MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE | [119] |
| II. CLASSICAL SCHOLARSHIP | [137] |
| BOOK THE FOURTH—THE T‘ANG DYNASTY (A.D. 600-900) | |
| I. POETRY | [143] |
| II. CLASSICAL AND GENERAL LITERATURE | [189] |
| BOOK THE FIFTH—THE SUNG DYNASTY (A.D. 900-1200) | |
| I. THE INVENTION OF BLOCK-PRINTING | [209] |
| II. HISTORY—CLASSICAL AND GENERAL LITERATURE | [212] |
| III. POETRY | [232] |
| IV. DICTIONARIES—ENCYCLOPÆDIAS—MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE | [238] |
| BOOK THE SIXTH—THE MONGOL DYNASTY (A.D. 1200-1368) | |
| I. MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE—POETRY | [247] |
| II. THE DRAMA | [256] |
| III. THE NOVEL | [276] |
| BOOK THE SEVENTH—THE MING DYNASTY (A.D. 1368-1644) | |
| I. MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE—MATERIA MEDICA—ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF AGRICULTURE | [291] |
| II. NOVELS AND PLAYS | [309] |
| III. POETRY | [329] |
| BOOK THE EIGHTH—THE MANCHU DYNASTY (A.D. 1644-1900) | |
| I. THE “LIAO CHAI”—THE “HUNG LOU MÊNG” | [337] |
| II. THE EMPERORS K‘ANG HSI AND CH’IEN LUNG | [385] |
| III. CLASSICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE—POETRY | [391] |
| IV. WALL LITERATURE—JOURNALISM—WIT AND HUMOUR—PROVERBS AND MAXIMS | [425] |
| BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE | [441] |
| INDEX | [443] |