Most foreigners know that the literature in ancient China was very prosperous during the process when they learn Chinese in China. There were a variety of literary genres in ancient China. As a matter of fact, the literary genres in China began in the middle period of the Northern Song Dynasty. However, the process has gone through a very long period of time.
In the pre-Qin period, the famous literary genres were the Confucian School, Taoist School and Mohism School. It is no doubt that all of them were the most enlightening in thoughts to the literary genres of the later generations. Those who study Chinese in China should know that in the following dynasties, there were many famous literati and writers came into being under their influence.
In the Emperor Wu period of Han Dynasty, the famous writers like Sima Xiangru and Dongfang Suo gathered at the “bai liang tai” to write poems and articles. There also many famous literati gathered in Liang Yuan Garden to write essays such as Mei Sheng, Zhou Yang and Yang Sheng and so on. Foreigners who study Mandarin in China may know there were also some other persons like Lu Qiaoru, Gongsun Gui, Han Anguo and so on.
The king of Huainan also gathered many more literati to write books centered on Shouchun. In the book “han shu•yi wen zhi”, about 82 articles written by the king of Huainan and 44 written by his ministers were recorded. It is obviously for learners who learn Chinese in China to see that there was a group to go creation around him.
In the early Han Dynasty, the kings and some other literati had a great influence on the later generations, greatly promoting the formation of the later literary genres. In the late of the Han Dynasty, the so called “Yexia Group” and “Zhengshi Group” were formed. Foreign learners who study Chinese in China should know that the former was composed of Cao Chao, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi as well as the Seven Scholars of Jian’an. The later was led by the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.
When you attend to language school to study Mandarin in China, teachers may tell you that these literature groups had the tendency to form the literary genres. However, they were all just to respond to each other and no common literary ideas. Therefore, they were not the real formation of the literary genres.
What the foreign students who learn Chinese in China should know is that the first school regarded as one of the literary genres by the later generations was the Xuanyan Poetry Genre. In the end of the Jin Dynasty and the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the southern areas were stable and the people there lived an easy and rich life and many gardens were built. Under this situation, the literati also live a relaxing life and communicated the ideas with each other.
In this period, what they talked about were the thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi as well as some philosophies in Buddhism. Therefore, the students who study Chinese in China may be told that the poems and articles written in this period were mostly profound and hard to understand. As a result, they were called the Xuanyan Poetry Genre. The representative people were Sun Chuo, Huan Wen and Yu Liang and so on.
The following literary genre was the so-called “Landscape Poetry Genre”. The representative persons were Xie Lingyun, Xie Tiao. They described the beautiful landscapes to create the leisure. Therefore, learners who study Mandarin in China know that their poems were very beautiful and impressive in words. Influenced by Xie Lingyun, many existing poems today are about the landscapes.
When it came to the Tianbao period of Tang Dynasty, the poetry reached its peak and many poets with great talent appeared at that time. When you learn Chinese in China, teachers would tell you that the poetry creation of this period was concluded as the pastoral and landscape poetry genre and the frontier fortress poetry genre, which are two important literary genres in China.
The representative poets of the former genre were Wang Wei and Meng Haoran. Some others were Pei Di, Zhang Zirong and Chang Jian and so on. All of them had the experience of living in seclusion. Many students who study Mandarin in China can feel their poetry were all related to the beautiful sceneries and profound and meaningful. Represented by Gao Shi and Cen Cen, the poets of the later genre all have the experience of being a soldier. Therefore, their poems were all full of power and grandeur.
Knowing the basic knowledge about the literary genres in ancient China is beneficial for Chinese language learners to know more styles about the poems and articles written in ancient China. it also can gain students interest to study Chinese language.