Analysis of Chinese Literature - Research Paper Example

World Literature 25 September Chinese Literature Paper Thesis ment: The image of traditional China could not be revealed much better without the writings of different scholars whose contribution to writing industry had highly influence. Their work went down through many journals of history due to their skillful nature and creativity. To mention a section of them, they are: Cao Cao the Warlord, Cao Pi the Crown Prince and Tao Qian, the Master Five Willows. Their contribution to literature was influenced by the environment with which they were living in and in most cases, applied their literature skills to offer influence to the readers. At present, China is a country that has shocked the world in its progress towards economical development and democracy, since her birth in 1949; there have been a lot of heated debates concerning democratization of China (Keping n.p.). This is a nation that had long been ruled by war lords with succession of power through their family linage, one such ruler is Cao Cao the Warlord. The transition period came down from the monarchial system, through dictatorial reign of the Sun dynasties. Salvation of Republic of China is credited to the China’s Communist Party, who fought and defeated the last dictatorial regime of Kuomintang, hence restoring democracy and baptism of China into the Republic of China. During these reigns, China was a country of wars and mayhems, one rebellion to another. Though this is always a characteristic of any country under warlord ships, the situation in China was far from offering any hope in the days to come. At the time of Cao Cao, china was under three kingdoms. The rifts and division that was long subduing this nation was as a result of constant rebellions. The mayhems that had wrecked and ripped the nation apart did not seem to come to an end any sooner. The power succession policy allowed continuation of warlords. After the death of Cao Cao, his son took over the leadership and immediately inaugurated the dynasty of Wei. Traditions of china have been brought forth by many auto biographers; one widely renowned autobiographer is Tao Qian and in his book “Master Five Willows,” he represents the face of transformation in the literature field during the older days in China; most of his art work was highly desired by other literature fanatics. Change in society is majorly vested upon those who are transpired; they act as the turnaround of the many faults of the past. Tao Qian’s own inspiration had more to do with strides to transform the society, breaking the traditional chains that had tied the society. Apart from their political arena, Cao Cao and his son Cao Pi were poets and excelled in their poetry fields. Literary work in China began long from the works of Eastern Han through the Western Jin. Writers took to stage what is expected of them; to act as societal mirror. Having a look at what most of these literature writers argued, the sentiments are very critical varying from condemnation of favoritism and family connections in the highly coveted offices and positions. They were devoted to writing exclusive essays protesting recommendation of unqualified people in government positions (Chang 153). A lot of evil scenes were happening in the government, as seen in some of the literature work; authors hugely condemned the authority of corruption and abuse of office (Chang 156). Any form of accusation directed towards the government was not taken lightly, as those held responsible were punished by imprisonment. The most inappropriate acts that were condoned by the authority were the work that could only praise the dynasty. A writer named Zhongchang Tong was once appointed as Cao Cao’s staff and while serving there, he wrote several essays including “Forthright words” the essay that went well with the authority. It was admired and even passed on from one ruler to the other. This malpractice exposes the evil deeds of the then officials, who could not accept criticism. It is however evident that the government was much irresponsible with its functionality and could only award those who favored them. Cai reveals the life of Cao Cao, which was a typical character of the rulers who came before him and even his immediate predecessors (n.p.). He fought other dynasties in the region with the aim of adopting some of the ladies for whom he declared that they would reside in the palace upon his death, so that they could offer sacrifices in his honor. This same person was a poet and conqueror; now that he was leading the whole lot of army into the battle field he used his creativity in poetry to design poems that brought a lot of encouragement to his fighters. One such poem was the one Cao Cao designed just before he engaged the battle of the Red Cliffs during the winter. Though not titled, it was his second poem and the message it carried with it was so much related to war, “past days many, future ones few” (Dongmyeong, “Cao Cao’s Second Poem”). According to Berkowitz, Tao Qian had to leave his government services so that he could live with his family in peace (127). This depicts an image of unrest in government and discomfort associated with it, regardless of the position one holds in the authority. Contrary to this designation, his work portrayed his loyalty to authority; he was a ‘Jin loyalist’. Most of his poems exuded contentment, atleast towards a particular kind of lifestyle and at the same time, appreciated the life of a simple person living in the simplest circumstances. The writings and poetry work of Cao Pi, the crown prince and the son of Cao Cao are described to have been quiet, more successful and were very skillful; the only problem is that his works were not dated ( Chen 217). In one of Cao Pi’s poems, he praises legends terming them as one of the long lived figures and were immortal. The similarity between the works written by Cao Cao and Cao Pi is that they both worshiped leadership. Most of their work was based on leadership. The most controversial thing in the work of Cao Pi was his argument against transcendental power, and yet he was in the heart of pleasures. This is a form of self denial. The comparison that existed between his real life situation and his poetic work was simply controversial. He mentions and condemns certain virtues, but he was in the fore front defying the same virtues. Although not clear in his work, this was his tactic of leadership. He was passing message to his subjects through writing. The writings of these three great people and writers: Cao Cao, Cao Pi and Qian had much similarity to those who preceded them, in that the messages were all based around the rulers and the behavior of those around the leadership. Their main concern, especially Cao Pi’s and his father was to create an atmosphere that described their dynasty as great and at the same time, their writings were used to encourage the soldiers before they were engaged in wars with other dynasties. These are the fathers of folks and they brought about the turnaround in literary work. The most understanding of Tao Qian is seen in his literary work; what he wrote is what reflected his life. He can be understood most through gathering and filtering literary pieces. Therefore, it is evident that most writers hide their life characters in their writings, and the only way to understand them is through their work. Autobiographers could not reveal their identity and their character and often preferred the approach of biographers. The work written was in form of a third person format and this was a way of hiding their identity. Tao Qian’s autobiography later became the strategy of those who later followed him and others who had used the same strategy (Huang 125). These writers employed the strategy of masking their identity in their work; this played a major role in conveying the message they were passing to the readers during this period of heated political environment. But due to the changing politics, where democracy has encroached the society, identity is no longer a major issue, but the ploy applied by writers is still similar to the set by Tao and Cao Cao. Works Cited Berkowitz, Alan, J. Patterns of Disengagement: The practice and Portrayal of Reclusion in Early Medieval China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000. Print. Cai, Zong-qi. How to Read Chinese Poetry: A Guided Anthology. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Print. Chang, Kang-I, S. and Stephen Owen. The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature-Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print. Chen, Jack W. The Poetics of Sovereignty. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010. Print. Dongmyeong. “Cao Cao’s Second Poem”. Authspot. 26 February 2011. Web. 27 September 2013. Huang, Martin, W. Literati and Self-Re/Presentation: Autobiographical Sensibility in the Eighteenth-Century Chinese Novel. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1995. Print. Keping, Yu. “Democracy in China: Challenge or Opportunity.” Harvard. edu. n.d. Web. 27 September 2013. . Read More