The historical

background
of china
 CHINA is one of the world's four
ancient civilizations, and the written
history of China dates back to the
Shang Dynasty (c. 1600–1046
BC), over 3,000 years ago.
 History of
Chinese
Philosophy
Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC - 256 B.C.),

The concept of the Mandate of

Heaven was introduced, which
held that Heaven would bless the
authority of a just ruler, but would
be displeased with an unwise
ruler, and retract the Mandate.
The "I Ching" (or "Book of Changes") was
traditionally compiled by the mythical figure Fu Xi in the
28th Century B.C., although modern research suggests
that it more likely dates to the late 9th Century B.C. The
text describes an ancient system of cosmology and
philosophy that is intrinsic to ancient Chinese cultural
beliefs, centering on the ideas of the dynamic balance
of opposites, the evolution of events as a process,
and acceptance of the inevitability of change. It
consists of a series of symbols, rules for manipulating
these symbols, poems and commentary, and is
sometimes regarded as a system of divination.
In about 500 B.C., (interestingly, around the same
time as Greek philosophy was emerging),
the classic period of Chinese philosophy (known as
the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought)
flourished, and the four most influential schools
(Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism and Legalism) were
established.

During the Qin Dynasty (also known as

the Imperial Era), after the unification of
China in 221 B.C., Legalism became
ascendant at the expense of the Mohist
and Confucianist schools, although
the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - A.D. 220)
adopted Taoism and later Confucianism as
official doctrine. Along with the
gradual parallel introduction of
Buddhism, these two schools have
remained the determining forces of
Chinese thought up until the 20th Century.
Neo-Confucianism (a variant of
Confucianism, incorporating elements of
Buddhism, Taoism and Legalism) was
introduced during the Song
Dynasty (A.D. 960 - 1279) and
popularized during the Ming
Dynasty (1368 - 1644).
During the Industrial and Modern Ages,
Chinese philosophy also began to integrate
concepts of Western philosophy. Sun Yat-
Sen (1866 - 1925) attempted to
incorporate elements
of democracy, republicanism and indust
rialism at the beginning of the 20th
century, while Mao Zedong (1893 - 1976)
later added Marxism, Stalinism and
other communist thought.
Major
Schools
> Confucianism:
This school was developed from the teachings of the
sage Confucius (551 - 479 B.C.), and collected in the Analects
of Confucius. It is a system of moral, social, political, and
quasi-religious thought, whose influence also spread
to Korea and Japan. The major Confucian concepts
include ren (humanity or humaneness), zhengming (similar to
the concept of the Mandate of
Heaven), zhong (loyalty), xiao (filial piety), and li (ritual). ]
Confucianism is not necessarily regarded as a religion,
allowing one to be a Taoist, Christian, Muslim, Shintoist or
Buddhist and still profess Confucianist beliefs. Arguably the
most famous Confucian after Confucius himself was Meng
Tzu (or Mencius) (372 – 289 B.C.)
Taoism:
Sometimes also written Daoism, Taoism is a philosophy
which later also developed into a religion. Tao literally
means "path" or "way", although it more often used as a
meta-physical term that describes the flow of the
universe, or the force behind the natural order.
The Three Jewels of the Tao are compassion,
moderation, and humility. Taoist thought focuses on wu
wei ("non-action"), spontaneity, humanism, relativism,
emptiness and the strength of softness (or flexibility).
Nature and ancestor spirits are common in popular
Taoism, although typically there is also a pantheon
of gods, often headed by the Jade Emperor. The most
influential Taoist text is the "Tao Te
Ching" (or "Daodejing") written around the 6th
Century B.C. by Lao Tzu (or Laozi), and a secondary
text is the 4th Century B.C. "Zhuangzi", named after its
author. The Yin and Yang symbol is important in Taoist
symbology (as in Confucianism), as are the Eight
Trigrams, and a zigzag with seven stars which
represent the Big Dipper star constellation.
Legalism
 Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion, a practical philosophy and arguably
a psychology, focusing on the teachings of Buddha (Siddhartha
Gautama), who lived in India from the mid-6th to the early 5th
Century B.C. It was introduced to China from India, probably some
time during the 1st Century B.C.

Chinese tradition focuses on ethics rather

than metaphysics, and it developed several schools
distinct from the originating Indian schools, and in
the process integrated the ideas of Confucianism,
Taoism and other indigenous philosophical systems
into itself.

The most prominent Chinese Buddhist schools

are Sanlun, Tiantai, Huayan and Chán (known as Zen in Japan).
 Mohism
Mohism was founded by Mozi (c. 470 - 390 B.C.) It
promotes universal love with the aim of mutual benefit,
such that everyone must love each other equally and
impartially to avoid conflict and war. Mozi was strongly
against Confucian ritual, instead emphasizing pragmatic
survival through farming, fortification and statecraft. In some
ways, his philosophy parallels Western utilitarianism.

Although popular during the latter part of

the Zhou Dynasty, many Mohist texts were
destroyed during the succeeding Qin Dynasty,
and it was finally supplanted completely by
Confucianism during the Han Dynasty.
In modern China, “traditional poetry” (also called “classical”)
refers to gu shi 古詩 (old poetry) and encompasses poetic
writing since Antiquity to the end of the imperial era. The
concept must be understood in opposition to “new poetry” (xin
shi 新詩), written after the May Fourth movement (1919), with
its own poetic assumptions and modes of expression inspired
by Western models. “Old poetry” also embraces all production
in traditional forms practiced after May Fourth outside the
mainstream of new literature. Before the impact of Western
culture, five basic poetic “genres” were recognized,
including shi 詩 (poetry, verse) in various forms, yuefu 樂府
(Music Bureau verse), fu 賦 (rhapsody, rhymed prose,
etc.), ci 詞 (song, lyric), and qu 曲 (aria), each with its own
variety of formal, stylistic, and performative conventions and
social roles.
In bibliographies, anthologies, and personal collections, genres are
separated. Two ancient anthologies, Shi jing 詩經 (Book of odes) and Chu
ci 楚辭 (Songs from Chu), were treated as separate categories, though a
direct link between them and later genres (shi, fu) is established. A
hierarchy of genres was acknowledged, with broadly defined shi (including
the yuefu) deriving its authority from the canonical Shi jing on the top.
(The position of the fu is complicated, and after the Tang dynasty it was
classified as prose.) The boundaries between high and low were not
impenetrable, and interplay between them constitutes much of the
dynamics of traditional Chinese poetry evolution. In the beginning of the
20th century, Chinese scholars, reinterpreting earlier ideas about genres
under the impact of evolutionary theories, established a new template of
literary history consisting of genres of poetry and prose alternating in
“dominant” positions along the lines of dynastic change. For poetry these
period genres are defined as Shi jing and Chu ci (pre-Han period); fu, yuefu,
and gu shi 古詩 (Han period); and wu yan shi 五言詩 (early medieval
period), followed by Tang shi, Song ci, and Yuan qu. Until the 1980s, when
the established template was first challenged, a genre was studied in
Chinese literature almost exclusively in the period in which it was
supposed to be “dominant.
” Poetry after the Yuan was mostly disregarded, though
all previous genres continued to be practiced. For
political reasons, contact between Western scholarship
and East Asian Sinology after 1949 was largely limited to
Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan. Scholarship in China was
subject to strict ideological control, culminating during
the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). The situation
changed after the 1980s, and regular contacts between
East and West and between China and Taiwan and Japan
have been established. Besides abundantly using Chinese
scholarship, Western scholarship is also increasingly
available in Chinese translations. Nevertheless, much of
the research in China and in the West is separate due to
differing traditions and academic contexts.
 Lu-shih
• A regulation poetry
(strict poetry). With five
or seven syllabic verses
with rhymes and
characterized by
parallelism.
• Lüshi, Wade-Giles romanization lü-shih, a form of Chinese poetry
that flourished in the Tang dynasty (618–907). It consists of eight
lines of five or seven syllables, each line set down in accordance
with strict tonal patterns.
• Exposition (qi) was called for in the first two lines; the
development of the theme (cheng), in parallel verse structure, in
the middle, or second and third, couplets; and the conclusion
(he) in the final couplet. Lüshi provided a new,
formal alternative to the long-popular free gushi (“ancient-style
poetry”). The poet Du Fu was particularly associated with lüshi,
and Bai Juyi also frequently used the form.
• The symmetry and lyricism of lüshi inspired jueju, a condensed
form of lüshi consisting of quatrains and depending for its
artistry on suggestiveness and economy. Another
variation, pailü, followed most of the rules of lüshi but also
allowed the poet to alter the rhyme and elongate the poem.
 Shik-Shing
• A four-syllabic verse. It is written in
four-line stanzas. The first stanza gives
the theme which is the repeated in the
next following stanzas until a climax is
reached.