Yuan Xingpei - An Outline of Chinese Literature I

In September 1987 I was invited by Professor Nagashima of Japans Aichi University to teach an outline course in Chinese literature. On my way back home via Hong Kong personages in Hong Kongs publishing circles, on seeing my lecture notes, decided that they deserved to be published, and so they were sent to the printer. Due to their kind care, this small volume came to be presented to the readers.

Although this book was written for foreigners who wish to study Chinese literature, the requirements of the Chinese reader have also been fully taken into account. For a long time our research into Chinese literature has been weighted toward historical description and discussions of individual writers and works, and too little attention has been paid to many other aspects of the subject as well as to an overall analysis. The style of writing literary history has hardened into a rigid model one it is not easy to break away from. In these circumstances, it is hoped that this attempt to expound on Chinese literature using the method of an outline can provide readers with fresh perspectives and awaken in them a deeper interest in the subject.

In the course of compiling this book I have consulted a wide range of authorities and studies and duly noted where I am indebted to them. Some have pointed me in the direction of deeper consideration, and some have furnished me with clues for my research. Although I am not able to cite them one by one, let me take this opportunity to thank them all here. I may mention for special thanks for their assistance Mr. Guo Shaoyu, author of A History of Chinese Literary Criticism ; Mr. Chu Binjie, author of An Introduction to Ancient Chinese Inscriptions and Mr. Qi Zhiping, author of A Brief Account of Tang and Song Poetry . Special thanks also go to Meng Erdong and Ma Zili, who helped me with the proofreading of the whole text. Due to the authors limited scholarship, there are bound to be omissions and errors, and he hopes that the readers will bring them to his attention.

Finally, my heartfelt thanks go out to Aichi University and Professor Nagashima. If it had not been for their kind invitation and assignment perhaps this book would never have been written.

Yuan Xingpei
December 1987

To sum up, I want to discuss two points:

First, I attempted to establish a viewpoint on the position of literature in the General Summary of my History of Chinese Literature (of four volumes). The general idea is this: To treat literature as a subject of study it is necessary to concentrate on the special points that give it its artistic influence and esthetic value. The position of literature cannot be divorced from textual criticism, study of its social background, etc. This is very important indeed, for otherwise the study of literature would not have a firm basis. Each literary researcher has an individual specialty, and there is no hierarchy in this field. Of course, in literary research literary works are the core. But there are two more levels of attention: One is the creators of literature themselves, and the other is the social background to the works and their creators. Whichever level is concentrated on, it will revolve around the actual works of literature, because all such efforts are aimed at expounding on and clarifying those works. Also in my General Summary I discuss historical trends of thought and the cultural point of view and their connection with the position of literature. These two approaches are important in that they complement and enrich each other, affording a wide perspective on the position of literature.

Second, literature comprises a world of its own created by mankind outside the objective world. This is a spiritual world, or it could be called an illusory and yet real world. It is an incomparably rich and lively world. It unfolds a world of boundless imagination. Faced with the task of explaining this world, the literary researcher must be equipped to a high degree with a number of skills: reasoning ability, the ability to handle documents, a wide range of general knowledge and artistic sensitivity, appreciation and creativity. The importance of the last three is worth stressing. Moreover, the cultivation of these qualities is never-ending. It is not that waiting until ones qualities have reached a certain level that one can then engage in literary research, but that in the course of such research ones own qualities are gradually raised.

Yuan Xingpei (chief ed.): History of Chinese Literature , Vol. 1, Higher Education Press, P. 3

The most ancient form of the handing down of literature was oral transmission, from mouth to ear, so to speak. It continues into our own times. Literature in remote antiquity myths, poems and ballads was handed down orally before it was recorded in writing. A primitive chant like Cut bamboo and make it into a catapult; fire mud pellets and scare away wild animals in The Catapult Song probably dates from the time of the Yellow Emperor, and is recorded in the book The Spring and Autumn Annals of the Kingdoms of Wu and Yue . Again, the Year-end Sacrifice: The soil turns into its dwelling; the water returns to the ditch; the insects are busy no more; and the grass and trees return to the swamp. This was a folk ballad handed down from the time of Yi Qi and is recorded in the Book of Rites . Again, the Waiting for My Husband Song: Waiting for my husband, Alas! This song probably dates from the time Yu the Great tamed the floods. Yus wife, a woman of the Tushan tribe, sang it as she waited for her husband to return from his irrigation work. It is recorded in the Spring and Autumn Annals of Mr. Lv . Whether these ballads are actually as old as this is immaterial; the important thing is that they must have existed in oral form long before they were written down. The songs recorded in the Book of Odes were certainly originally passed down orally before being sorted out and reduced to writing in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period of the Zhou Dynasty. The course of oral transmission was one of unbroken refining and re-creation. It was only after the songs, poems and ballads came to be written down that they settled into a fixed form. Nevertheless, the poems and songs popular among the common people continued to be refined and reworked.