The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature vernacular fiction novels that arose during the Ming dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese. The introduction of widespread woodblock printing during the Tang dynasty (618–907) and the invention of movable type printing by Bi Sheng (990–1051) during the Song dynasty (960–1279) rapidly spread written knowledge throughout China. In more modern times, the author Lu Xun (1881–1936) is considered an influential voice of baihua literature in China.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 169 AD and ending with the reunification of the land in 280 by Western Jin. The novel is based primarily on the Records of the Three Kingdoms (三國志), written by Chen Shou.
Ink wash painting is a type of Chinese ink brush painting which uses black ink, such as that used in Chinese calligraphy, in different concentrations. Emerging during the Tang dynasty of China (618–907), it overturned earlier, more realistic techniques. It is typically monochrome, using only shades of black, with a great emphasis on virtuoso brushwork and conveying the perceived "spirit" or "essence" of a subject over direct imitation. It flourished from the Song dynasty in China (960–1279) onwards, as well as in Japan after it was introduced by Zen Buddhist monks in the 14th century. Some Western scholars divide Chinese painting into three periods: times of representation, times of expression, and historical Oriental art. Chinese scholars have their own views different from this, and they believe that contemporary Chinese ink wash paintings are the pluralistic continuation of multiple historical traditions.
Dream of the Red Chamber or The Story of the Stone is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for its psychological scope, and its observation of the worldview, aesthetics, life-styles, and social relations of 18th-century China.
The Good Earth is a historical fiction novel by American writer Pearl S. Buck published in 1931 that dramatizes family life in a Chinese village in the early 20th century. It is the first book in her House of Earth trilogy, continued in Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935). It was the best-selling novel in the United States in both 1931 and 1932, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1932, and was influential in Buck's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. Buck, who grew up in China as the daughter of missionaries, wrote the book while living in China and drew on her first-hand observation of Chinese village life. The realistic and sympathetic depiction of the farmer Wang Lung and his wife O-Lan helped prepare Americans of the 1930s to consider Chinese as allies in the coming war with Japan.
Dynasties in Chinese history, or Chinese dynasties, were hereditary monarchical regimes that ruled over China during much of its history. From the inauguration of dynastic rule by Yu the Great in circa 2070 BC to the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor on 12 February 1912 in the wake of the Xinhai Revolution, China was ruled by a series of successive dynasties. Dynasties of China were not limited to those established by ethnic Han—the dominant Chinese ethnic group—and its predecessor, the Huaxia tribal confederation, but also included those founded by non-Han peoples.
Zhao Mengfu, was a Chinese calligrapher, painter, and scholar during the Yuan Dynasty. He was a descendant of the Song Dynasty's imperial family through Emperor Xiaozong's brother Zhao Bogui who married a lady surnamed Song who was the granddaughter of Emperor Huizong. Zhao Bogui was a descendant of Emperor Taizu, through his son Zhao Defang.
The Four Masters of the Yuan dynasty is a name used to collectively describe the four Chinese painters Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, Ni Zan, and Wang Meng, who were active during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). They were revered during the Ming dynasty and later periods as major exponents of the tradition of “literati painting” (wenrenhua), which was concerned more with individual expression and learning than with outward representation and immediate visual appeal.
The Old History of the Five Dynasties was an official history mainly focus on Five Dynasties era (907–960), which controlled much of northern China. And it also includes some history of other south states during the era. It was compiled by the Song Dynasty official-scholar Xue Juzheng in the first two decades of the Song Dynasty, which was founded in 960. It is one of the Twenty-Four Histories recognized through Chinese history.
Jia Pingwa , better known by his penname Jia Pingwa, is one of China's most popular authors of novels, short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. His best-known novels include Ruined City, which was banned by the State Publishing Administration for over 17 years for its explicit sexual content, and Qin Opera, winner of the 2009 Mao Dun Literature Prize.
Wang Meng is a Chinese writer who served as Minister of Culture from 1986 to 1989.
Wang Mian, courtesy name Yuanzhang (元章), also known as Zhushi Shannong, was a Chinese painter and poet active during the Yuan dynasty. Initially aspiring to be a government official, Wang later earned considerable recognition as an artist who specialised in plum blossom paintings. Falling out of the public eye in his later years, Wang had a short stint as military adviser to Zhu Yuanzhang. Wang makes an appearance in the eighteenth-century novel The Scholars.
The Lost Bladesman is a 2011 Hong Kong-Chinese historical war and biopic action film loosely based on the story of Guan Yu crossing five passes and slaying six generals in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Written and directed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong, the film starred Donnie Yen as Guan Yu, with Yen also serving as the film's action director.
Meng Jiao (751–814) was a Chinese poet during the Tang Dynasty. Two of his poems have been collected in the popular anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems. Meng was the oldest of the Mid-Tang poets and is noted for the unusual forcefulness and harshness of his poems.
The Queen Mother of the West, known by various local names, is a mother goddess in Chinese religion and mythology, also worshipped in neighbouring Asian countries, and attested from ancient times. From her name alone some of her most important characteristics are revealed: she is royal, female, and is associated with the west.
The Trưng sisters' rebellion was an armed civil uprising in the south of Han China between 40 and 43 AD. In 40 AD, the Vietnamese leader Trưng Trắc and her sister Trưng Nhị rebelled against Chinese authorities in Jiaozhi. In 42 AD, Han China dispatched General Ma Yuan to lead an army to strike down the Yue rebellion of the Trưng sisters. In 43 AD, the Han army fully suppressed the uprising and regained complete control. The Trưng sisters were captured and beheaded by the Han forces, although Vietnamese chronicles of the defeat records that the two sisters, having lost to Han forces, decided to commit suicide by jumping down the Hát Giang river, so as not to surrender to the Han.
Andrew Henry Plaks is an American sinologist who specializes in the study of the vernacular fiction of the Ming and Qing dynasties. From 1973 to 2007 he taught at Princeton University, becoming full professor in 1980. He moved to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2007, where he became Professor of East Asian Studies.
Aim High is a 2014 Taiwanese romantic-comedy television series produced by Sanlih E-Television. Starring Summer Meng, Chris Wang, Kuo Shu-yao, and Lego Lee as main leads with Lyan Cheng and Huang Wei Ting as main supporting cast. The original title literally translates to "22K Dream Fly High", 22K is in reference to the median salary for recent college graduates entering the workforce in Taiwan.
The Galaxy Award is China's most prestigious science fiction award, which was started in 1986 by the magazines Tree of Wisdom and Science Literature & Art. After Tree of Wisdom ceased publication soon afterwards, the award was organized solely by Science Literature & Art, which was renamed to Science Fiction World in 1991.
John Antony Spurling is a Kenyan-English playwright and author who has written thirty-five plays and seven books. Spurling won the 2015 Walter Scott Prize for The Ten Thousand Things. Spurling worked in various other capacities between the 1960s and 1990s, including announcing for BBC Radio from 1963 to 1966, reviewing books and art for BBC Radio and many magazines and newspapers, and as principal art critic for the New Statesman from 1976 to 1988.
