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Fiction is a literary genre primarily concerned with depicting characters to tell a complete story about social life within a setting. Fiction has three main elements, namely, characters, a plot, and a setting. Depending on the length, fiction can be divided into novels, novellas, and short stories. In terms of content, traditional Chinese fiction can be divided into the following broad categories: fantasy stories of gods and spirits, historical fiction, heroic legendary tales, and stories about human relations and social mores. In terms of genre, traditional Chinese fiction is divided into literary sketches, legendary tales, story- tellers’ prompt-books, and chapter-based novels. In terms of language, there is fiction in the classical language and vernacular fiction. Traditional Chinese fiction has evolved through different stages, with distinctive features for each period. The myths, legends and historical biographies of the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, and the fables in the works of the earlier Chinese thinkers were the sources of traditional Chinese fiction. The literary sketches by men of letters in the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties were embryonic forms of traditional fiction. The legendary tales of the Tang Dynasty marked the eventual emergence of Chinese fiction. The story-tellers’ prompt-books in the Song and Yuan dynasties laid the foundation that allowed traditional fiction to reach maturity. The novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties marked the peak in the development of pre-modern fiction. That period is famous for producing great Chinese classical novels, namely, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, Outlaws of the Marsh and Dream of the Red Chamber. During and after the New Culture Movement and the May 4th Movement around 1919, a large amount of modern vernacular fiction appeared, bringing forth a message of science and democracy of the modern age.
Chuanqi (Legendary Story / Legendary Play)
This is a term for a literary form. It refers to three types of artistic works: 1) A type of short story in the Tang and Song dynasties that might be evolved from tales of the supernatural in the earlier Six Dynasties. Later its subjects widened to include social life, and stories about people and events. Chuan (传) means “legendary” and qi (奇) means “strange and unusual,” so the term originally means recounting tales of strange and extraordinary events that have been passed down by word of mouth. The work Legendary Stories by Pei Xing in the Tang Dynasty is probably the earliest work that uses the term. In the Song Dynasty, the Tang novel The Story of Yingying is considered a chuanqi, while the Yuan people called all Tang stories chuanqi of Tang. Song Dynasty chuanqi were more realistic and vernacular than those of the Tang. 2) Song-speech drama, Southern opera and Yuan zaju in the Song and Yuan dynasties, most of which were based on Tang stories. 3) Full-length operas in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which were based on the Southern Opera（Nanxi), and also included some Yuan zaju features. Typical works include The Story of Washing Gauze by Liang Chenyu (1519-1591), Peach Blossom Fan by Kong Shangren (1648-1718), The Palace of Eternal Life by Hong Sheng (1645-1704). The ancient style of chuanqi has evolved and been innovated over the centuries, both in story content and performance techniques. However, its main purpose is still to “tell stories of strange happenings and unusual people.”
Tale telling was an artistic form of telling stories through talking and singing that originated in the pre-Qin times. By the late years of the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin period, Buddhists and Daoists started to interpret religious scripts with vernacular language and vivid stories. In the Tang Dynasty, monks used talking and singing to interpret religious doctrines. On the basis of these early attempts, tale telling prospered in the Song Dynasty. It was no longer confined to temples, but became a form of popular entertainment on stages and at marketplaces. It included many subgenres such as histories based on works of authors of the Han to the Tang dynasties, skits with talking and singing, farces, stories of the Three Kingdoms and stories of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. In the Southern Song Dynasty, tale telling covered four subjects: stories told to the accompaniment of a wind instrument, war stories, histories of past dynasties as well as Buddhist allegories and tales about wise thoughts inspired by worshipping at shrines. Tale telling entertainers were good at talking, singing and telling jokes; and drums, gongs and other musical instruments were used to enhance the appeal. Poetic lines were read and an anecdote was told at the beginning of the show, a trick used by performers that drew cheers and applause from early comers and ensured that late arrivals would not miss the main show. Performances would often end with a recitation of other poetic lines. Tale telling was very popular among common folks throughout the Song Dynasty. The scripts thus developed became an important part of old-time vernacular Chinese fiction.
Originally, the term meant to command a good knowledge of documents from pervious dynasties. Wen (文) referred to documents, and xue (学) referred to the study of these documents. Later, the term referred to articles and documents in general as well as the knowledge about those documentations. The term had three main meanings. Firstly, from the pre-Qin period to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it meant knowledge of ancient literature, especially that of humanities including poetry, history, rites and music, as well as works of laws and regulations. Starting from the Wei and Jin dynasties, the term basically became equivalent to today’s concept of literature, but it also referred to academic writings on humanities. With the introduction of the Western concept of literature in recent history, the term gradually evolved to mean a pursuit that uses language to create aesthetic images. However, a few scholars, such as Zhang Taiyan（1869—1936）, stuck to its traditional definition. The original meaning of the term determined the mainstream view on literature in contemporary China, which focuses on examining a literary phenomenon in the broader cultural context and emphasizing the intrinsic relationship between the aesthetic values of literature and liberal arts. This is somewhat different from the Western notion of literature which highlights the independent nature of literary appreciation. Secondly, the term refers broadly to various kinds of articles and documents in ancient times. Thirdly, it refers to scholars who promote learning through writing and teaching, as well as officials in charge of culture and education.
The term generally refers to different types of writings. Its meanings have evolved over time. During the Western and Eastern Han dynasties, it generally referred to writing techniques, writing styles, and various types of articles. During the Wei, Jin, and the Southern and Northern dynasties, literary scholars began to identify different features in different types of writings. They distinguished, for the first time, literary writings from those interpreting classical works, and identified pure literature as literary writings and practical writings as technical writings. They subsequently distinguished, on the basis of form, literary works such as poems, fu (赋 descriptive prose interspersed with verse), song (颂 essays of extolment), and zan (赞 essay of commendation) from essays such as memorials, documents, and policy proposals submitted to the emperor by officials. They concluded that all writings with rhyme were literary writings and those without were technical writings. Xiao Yi（508-554）, Emperor Yuan of Liang, argued further that literary writings should not only have rhyme, but also express the author’s inner feelings and use elaborate rhetoric, while technical writings required only general writing skills. Today, this term mainly refers to writing techniques and language styles.
Shi (诗) is a major genre of ancient Chinese literature, the earliest literary form that emerged in China. Observing the requirements of a certain rhythm, rules of rhyming, number of characters, and type of verses, and using concise language and rich imagination, it reflects social life and conveys thoughts and emotions. Shi and wen (文) are two principal forms of ancient Chinese literature. Shi, as referred to by the ancient Chinese, consists of the older type of poetry and the latter type of poetry. It generally does not include ci (词 lyric) and qu (曲 melody), which appeared as literary genres after the Tang Dynasty. The older type of shi is also called gufeng (古风), meaning ancient style, which is a general appellation for all kinds of poetic forms produced prior to the latter type of shi, except the style employed in the odes of Chu. With relatively few restrictions in rules and forms, shi is not constrained by any antithetical arrangement or a fixed tone pattern, and its rhyme is fairly free. In addition, the length of a piece is not limited. A verse may have four, six, seven, or a mixed number of Chinese characters. The latter type of shi is also called gelüshi (格律诗), meaning poetry with fixed patterns. Its number of characters, rhyming, tone pattern, and antithetical arrangement are all strictly fixed. A poem of this type may contain four lines (known as jue 绝), each with five or seven characters, or eight lines (known as lü 律), each with five or seven characters. Occasionally, it is much longer than normal, expanding to one and a half dozen lines, which is referred to as pailü (排律). The difference between shi, and ci and qu is that the former is not set to music, while the latter may be set to music and sung. Shi has existed as a literary form for more than 2, 000 years in China. Ancient Chinese used shi to connect humans with nature, voice aspirations, and give expression to emotions. It embodied the spirit and aesthetic pursuits of literature and art in ancient China, which is very different from the West, which only sees poetry as a category of literature. In ancient China, Confucian thought played an important guiding role in poetic creation, while Daoist and Buddhist thoughts had a profound influence on the theory of poetry’s artistic conception. Since The Book of Songs was China’s earliest collection of poems, later generations also used shi to refer to The Book of Songs in particular.
Ci (词) originated in the Tang and the Five Dynasties, and developed to maturity as a new literary form in the Song Dynasty. Also known as “lyric with a melody,” “yuefu (乐府) poetry” or “long and short verses,” ci developed from poetry. Its main feature is that it is set to music and sung. Each piece of ci has a name for its tune. There are strict requirements for the number of lines and the number of characters as well as tone pattern and rhyming in different tunes. In terms of length, ci is divided into short lyrics, medium lyrics, and long lyrics. In terms of musical system, a piece of ci is usually divided into two stanzas of que (阕) or pian (片), as ancient Chinese called them. Occasionally, it consists of three or four stanzas, or just one. Thus, the music can be played once or many times. In terms of style, ci falls into the graceful and restrained school and the bold and unconstrained school. The former is delicate and sentimental, often describing family life and love, while the latter is bold and free, often expressing one’s vision about major social issues like the fate of the nation. Many literati and scholars of the Song Dynasty composed ci lyrics, which played a significant part in promoting its development. Today, ci is generally not set to music and sung. Rather, it is a literary form composed in accordance with the requirements of a music tune.
Qu (曲) is a literary form that came into being later than poetry and ci (词). It generally refers to the northern- and southern-style melodies created in the Song and Jin dynasties. Northern melodies were composed mostly with tunes in northern China and performed in northern dialect, while southern melodies had southern tunes and southern dialect. Since qu reached its peak in the Yuan Dynasty, it is generally known as Yuan qu or Yuan opera. Qu is similar to ci in form but is more flexible in sentence structure, and colloquial language is used. There are two main types of qu: one is northern zaju (杂剧) opera and southern chuanqi (传奇) opera； such qu is known as xiqu (戏曲) or juqu (剧曲). The other type is sanqu (散曲) or lyric songs, also known as qingqu (清曲). As with other forms of poetry, sanqu describes a scene, a sentiment or an event and can be sung, but it has no spoken parts or instructions for performers’ movements and expressions. Generally speaking, the old-style opera is much more accomplished and influential than sanqu. The Yuan period was a golden age in the development of Chinese opera. There are more than 80 known playwrights from that time. Guan Hanqing, Ma Zhiyuan (1251?-1321?), Bai Pu (1226-1306?), and Zheng Guangzu (?- 1324?) represent different styles from different stages of the Yuan opera, and they are recognized as the four leading Yuan opera writers. Yuan opera has distinctive plots and artistic appeal. Together with Tang and Song poetry and Ming and Qing fiction, it marks an important milestone in the historical development of Chinese literature.
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