China has one of the longest continuous literary traditions in the world. From the beginnings of the Chinese written language to the lively world of internet literature, these two volumes tell the story of Chinese writing, both as an instrument of the state and as a medium for culture outside the state. The chapters, organized chronologically, treat not only poetry, drama, and fiction, but also historical writing and other prose forms. Written by internationally recognized experts in the field, the History frequently challenges current scholarship, from taking recent archeological discoveries into consideration to understanding Chinese modernity not as a sudden rupture with the past but as part of a longer process. The History offers both an integrated narrative, situating literature in its larger cultural context, and an overview of the key developments of the past millennia accessible to non-specialist readers as well as scholars and students of Chinese.

Contents

Volume I: Introduction;

1. Early Chinese literature: beginnings through Western Han Martin Kern;

2. From the Eastern Han through the Western Jin (AD 25–317) David Knechtges;

3. From the Eastern Jin through the Early Tang (317–649) Xiaofei Tian;

4. The Cultural Tang (650–1020) Stephen Owen;

5. The Northern Song (1020–1126) Ronald Egan;

6. North and South: the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Michael Fuller and Shuen-fu Lin;

7. Literature from the Late Jin to the Early Ming: ca. 1230–ca. 1375 Stephen H. West; Bibliography; Glossary;

Index; Volume II: Introduction;

1. Literature of the Early Ming to Mid-Ming (1375–1572) Kang-i Sun Chang;

2. The literary culture of the Late Ming (1573–1644) Tina Lu;

3. Early Qing to 1723 Wai-yee Li;

4. The Literati Era and its demise (1723–1840) Shang Wei;

5. Prosimetric and verse narrative Wilt L. Idema;

6. Chinese literature from 1841 to 1937 David Der-wei Wang, Jing Tsu and Michel Hockx;

7. Chinese literature from 1937 to the present Michelle Yeh, Jing Tsu and Michel Hockx; Bibliography; Glossary; Index.