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  A HISTORY OF
  CHINESE LITERATURE

  BY

  HERBERT A. GILES, M. A., LL. D. (ABERD.)

  PROFESSOR OF CHINESE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
  AND LATE H. B. M. CONSUL AT NINGPO

  [Illustration]

  NEW YORK AND LONDON
  D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
  1927




  COPYRIGHT, 1901,
  BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.


  Printed in the United States of America




PREFACE


This is the first attempt made in any language, including Chinese, to
produce a history of Chinese literature.

Native scholars, with their endless critiques and appreciations of
individual works, do not seem ever to have contemplated anything of the
kind, realising, no doubt, the utter hopelessness, from a Chinese point
of view, of achieving even comparative success in a general historical
survey of the subject. The voluminous character of a literature which
was already in existence some six centuries before the Christian era,
and has run on uninterruptedly until the present date, may well have
given pause to writers aiming at completeness. The foreign student,
however, is on a totally different footing. It may be said without
offence that a work which would be inadequate to the requirements of
a native public, may properly be submitted to English readers as an
introduction into the great field which lies beyond.

Acting upon the suggestion of Mr. Gosse, to whom I am otherwise
indebted for many valuable hints, I have devoted a large portion of
this book to translation, thus enabling the Chinese author, so far as
translation will allow, to speak for himself. I have also added, here
and there, remarks by native critics, that the reader may be able to
form an idea of the point of view from which the Chinese judge their
own productions.

It only remains to be stated that the translations, with the exception
of a few passages from Legge's "Chinese Classics," in each case duly
acknowledged, are my own.

  HERBERT A. GILES.

  CAMBRIDGE.




CONTENTS


  _BOOK THE FIRST--THE FEUDAL PERIOD_ (B.C. 600-200)

  CHAP.                                                              PAGE

  I. LEGENDARY AGES--EARLY CHINESE CIVILISATION--ORIGIN OF WRITING      3
  II. CONFUCIUS--THE FIVE CLASSICS                                      7
  III. THE FOUR BOOKS--MENCIUS                                         32
  IV. MISCELLANEOUS WRITERS                                            43
  V. POETRY--INSCRIPTIONS                                              50
  VI. TAOISM--THE "TAO-TE-CHING"                                       56

  _BOOK THE SECOND--THE HAN DYNASTY_
  (B.C. 200-A.D. 200)

  I. THE "FIRST EMPEROR"--THE BURNING OF THE BOOKS--MISCELLANEOUS
        WRITERS                                                        77
  II. POETRY                                                           97
  III. HISTORY--LEXICOGRAPHY                                          102
  IV. BUDDHISM                                                        110

  _BOOK THE THIRD--MINOR DYNASTIES_ (A.D. 200-600)

  I. POETRY--MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE                                 119
  II. CLASSICAL SCHOLARSHIP                                           137

  _BOOK THE FOURTH--THE T'ANG DYNASTY_ (A.D. 600-900)

  I. POETRY                                                           143
  II. CLASSICAL AND GENERAL LITERATURE                                189

  _BOOK THE FIFTH--THE SUNG DYNASTY_ (A.D. 900-1200)

  I. THE INVENTION OF BLOCK-PRINTING                                  209
  II. HISTORY--CLASSICAL AND GENERAL LITERATURE                       212
  III. POETRY                                                         232
  IV. DICTIONARIES--ENCYCLOPAEDIAS--MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE              238

  _BOOK THE SIXTH--THE MONGOL DYNASTY_
  (A.D. 1200-1368)

  I. MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE--POETRY                                 247
  II. THE DRAMA                                                       256
  III. THE