For nearly 3500 years, China has developed their own form of cultural traditions, values, and tastes. ?Chinese literature can be divided into four main periods: classical literature, modern literature, literature and the present-age literature.

What are carriers of Chinese written literary works?

The written Chinese character can be dated back to 6,000 years ago. The Chinese characters used today evolved from those used in bone and tortoise shell inscriptions more than 3,000 years ago and the bronze inscriptions produced soon after. The early Chinese books originally appeared in the cumbersome form of strips of bamboo.

. In replacement of bamboo strips books, silk was substituted as a writing material in the 2d cent. B.C It was about 4,000 years after, the invention of paper first appeared, which was responsible for a great increase in the number of books. During the Tang Dynasty, the introduction of widespread woodblock printing and the invention of movable type printing during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) rapidly spread the Chinese written knowledge throughout China. Even though with the development of technology such as mobile phones and computer, paper is still a wide used carrier.

The oldest surviving written records of Chinese literature can be dated back to 1400 B.C. in the period of the Shang dynasty, but ?the origin of Chinese language dates back earlier than that..

In the Zhou dynasty (c. 1027 256 B.C.), there is a period called “The Hundred Schools of Thought”, where many warfare and state reforms happened in China while the literature throve. However, many of the books were burned and buried alive with the Confucian during the Qin dynasty. . The only books that were not forbidden are writings about medicine, herbs, divining and agriculture. Confucianism again was introduced during the Tang Dynasty in 630, and scholars once more started to interpret and comment the Confucian classics. Tang poems are said to be the finest of Chinese literature, turning back to a simple "regular style" (lüshi) with five or seven syllables per verse. Writing poems was a must-do for every well-educated person, and there are still poems existent written by emperors, monks, and scholars.

During Song dynasty, poetry was not immune to the different opinions and feelings of the people. People were searching for a new way in which to successfully express themselves and their troubled thoughts. Song dynasty is a prosperous time for classical Chinese poem(ci詞). In the later Ming Dynasty and Qing dynasty, the writings changed once more to focus more on the romantic nature of the world. During this time popular love stories dominated the literary scene, and about half of them were written in the traditional, classical language.

Soon after the fall of the last emperor in 1911, ., the New Culture Movement took place in 1917 to 1923. During this time the classical language was considered to be a dead language for all intents and purposes. Another factor was emerging onto the scene of Chinese literature and that was the ability for women writers to be more prevalent and to be taken more seriously than they might have been in the past.

In the twenties and thirties, there was a huge increase in the number of creative and artistic views on society, and different theories about writing were vast and numerous. Many of stories showed the modern man in a struggle against repressive Confucian values and a need to change and expand their horizons. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, those writer were praised, however, those who were still around during the Cultural Revolution found themselves in a precarious situation. It was a Soviet concept that affected people to believe that all art had to focus solely on modern events in a natural and realistic sense.

?In spite of all of these crackdowns on the literature field a number of good works managed to get published.
In the 1980’s, writers began to experience with different and newer forms of language. Some writers even formed a movement known as the “roots” campaign that sought to reconnect the culture of the public back to many of the Chinese traditions. This only fueled the spirit of experimentation among the writers as they sought to bring about changes; however, this feeling of fleeting freedom began to change after the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989.

In the ancient China, the most influenced literary works are "Book of Documents", "Book of Changes" and “Book of Songs". The most important texts to the Zhou tradition became also the core texts of the later Confucian classics: The (Shangshu or Shujing, literally "Texts of the Old") is a collection of speeches and discussions from the mythical Xia Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty to the end of Western Zhou period. The (Shijing) is a collection of hymns, critics and popular songs from the Western Zhou. The third great text is the (Yijing), a manual for milfoil divination.

One of the well praise authors of modern Chinese literature is Lu Xun as known as “Father of Chinese literature”. Lu Xun’s literary work often reflects the living experience in China during the decline of Qing dynasty and the rise of the Republic of China. His writing styles are emotional and sarcastic. Those who read his stores often quoted it as unforgettable. Many readers often mentioned that his stories consisted of difficult Chinese phrases, allusions to Chinese Classics, and historical references, his stories are too important not to read. 

There are many writers living and working in China today despite many of the restrictions. In 2000 a disaffected Chinese writer, Gao Xingjian, (who currently lives and works in France) won the Nobel Prize for Literature.