Answer the following in Detail:

To what extent is the Chinese influence reflected in the fields of philosophy and literature.

Chinese philosophy has an elongated history of several thousand years. Chinese Philosophy refers to any of several schools of philosophical thought in the Chinese tradition. It includes including Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, Buddhism, and Mohism.

These Chinese poets and philosophers also contributed to Chinese civilization:

1) Lao Tze,

2) Confucius,

3) Mencius,

4) Mo Ti (Mot Zu) and

5) Tao Chien (365-427 CE).

6) Sun- Tzu (author of the work called Art of War)

7) The Spring and Autumn Annals is the official chronicle of the state at the time. It was composed in the early 4th century BC,

8) Lao Tze (c. 604–521 BCE) was the master library-keeper of Chou state. He was the founder of Taoism. He argued that craving is the root cause of all evils.

9) The Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Medicine is considered China’s earliest written book on medicine. It was written during the time of the Han Dynasty.

10) Confucius (551–497 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher and a political reformer. He advocated that:

11) cultivation of one’s own personal life is very important

12) He said, “If personal life is cultivated, family life is regulated; and once family life is regulated, national life is regulated.”

13) Mencius (372–289 BCE) ,another philosopher travelled throughout China and offered his guidance to the rulers.

CHINESE LITERATURE

1) Chinese literary works include

2) Fiction

3) Philosophical and religious works

4) Poetry

5) Scientific writings.

The major developments in Chinese literature are:

1) Shang Dynasty (about 1700-1050 BC) — the growth of Chinese Writing

2) Zhou Dynasty (1045-255 BC) — fundamental Philosophical and Religious Literature

3) Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) — Literary tragedy and Legalism

4) Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) — Scientific and Historical Texts

5) Tang Dynasty (618-907) — Early Woodblock Printing and poems

6) Song Dynasty (960-1279) — Early Woodblock Printing, Travel Literature, Poetry, Scientific Texts, and the Neo-Confucian Classics

7) Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) — Drama and Great Fictional Novels

8) Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) — Novels

9) Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) — Novels and Pre-modern Literature

10) Modern Era (1912-present) — Westernized Literature

Thus it is clear that there is a massive influence on Chinese in the fields of philosophy and literature. Chinese literature and philosophy are infinite subjects that span thousands of years. One of the appealing things about Chinese literature is that much of the serious literature and philosophical records were composed using an official written language that is called Classical Chinese.