As an ancient country with historical and cultural accumulation, China literature has long existed! The appearance of China literature can be traced back to the ancient times when writing was produced. At that time, there were no words. Later, after a long time, people began to record myths and legends handed down orally with written symbols. The appearance of written symbols at that time was one of the symbols of social civilization, which was of great significance to the development of later generations. Because of the writing, the ancients can record the ancient culture, so that it can be preserved in this world, rather than a flash in the pan. The slow development of literature provided conditions for written literature, which marked the germination of written literature in China.
In Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals and Ancient Music, we can know that poetry at this time is one of the oldest literary forms. China's first poems were combined with music and dance. Because at that stage, writing has matured and been widely used in literature records, the products of the combination of poetry, music and dance can be preserved for a long time. However, with the progress and development of history and culture, poetry gradually separated from music and dance and developed towards literary significance, architectural beauty, musical beauty and painting beauty. This created conditions for the development of poetry creation in later generations to reach its peak.
Pre-Qin experienced a process from primitive culture to rationality. In this process, the identity and status of the main undertaker of culture have changed obviously, and the cultural author is also changing constantly. As early as Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, wizards were the main undertakers of culture. So of course they are the creators of literature. In the Book of Rites, we can know that there are many mantras and ballads to pray for and eliminate disasters, some of which are not only concise and neat in syntax, but also harmonious in phonology, which are the seeds of early poetry. But slowly, the status of wizards has changed, and gradually declined with the passage of time and the development of the times.
There was no distinction between witchcraft and history in ancient times, and the position of history was originally religious. With the decline of the status of ghosts and gods in Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, personnel have been paid attention to. And break away from primitive religion and become the representative of emerging culture. Pan Geng, Emperor Gaozong's Day, Seven Miles of Xibo and Weizi in Shangshu are the earliest prose creations of historians. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the cultural activities of historians reached a climax, and all countries had their own history books. Among them, Zuo Zhuan in Spring and Autumn pushed the prose of historians to a peak and became a model of prose creation in later generations. This is of great significance for future generations to understand the history that has happened. During the Warring States period, cultural and academic thoughts were unprecedentedly active, forming a situation in which a hundred schools of thought contend. Their works use a variety of literary techniques and have the characteristics of narrative literature. It has had a far-reaching influence on the literary creation of later generations, especially their narrative tradition and language art have nourished the creation of novels and essays very obviously.
In the pre-Qin period, reasoning prose experienced a process from germination to maturity. Among them, the representative works of Confucianism and Taoism, The Analects of Confucius and Laozi, with their profound thoughts and rich writing characteristics, have exerted a wide influence on the reasoning prose of later generations. Among them, Han Feizi's reasoning prose, with its thorough argumentation and strict logic, became a master of the art of reasoning prose in the pre-Qin period. Fable is the most literary prose in Han Feizi's reasoning prose. Among them, the story theme of Zuo Zhuan Han Feizi is plain, not as complicated as Zhuangzi's fable, but Han Feizi's fable is not dull in art, but humorous in language, with intriguing and alarming artistic effects. Moreover, many fables have become popular idioms and allusions, which are still widely used by future generations. Not only Han Feizi, but also Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi and Zhuangzi. They are all language masters of pre-Qin philosophers. Their high success in language art has enriched the expressive force of Chinese and laid the foundation for the development of China's literary language. At that time, the rhetoric we used now was mature. It must be said that their literary creation techniques at that time directly influenced the language rhetoric of later generations.
Since the pre-Qin literature is mentioned, Qu Yuan and Chu Ci have to be mentioned. Qu Yuan is a great patriotic poet in China. Qu Yuan's greatest influence on later generations is his perseverance and maverick integrity, as well as his spirit of persisting in truth and daring to resist the dark rule in adversity. Qu Yuan not only inspired generations of literati in spirit, but also made generations of writers in art, which had a far-reaching influence in the history of China literature. Among them, Li Sao is the most prominent, and its symbolism has brought great influence on later literary creation. It is the inheritance and development of metaphor in The Book of Songs, with richer connotation and great artistic charm.
Here, we can probably understand how profound and extensive the influence of pre-Qin literature on our later generations is. Its unique charm shows the great vitality of China literature. While we are proud of this, we should continue to advance and create greater glories.