titiae Linguae Sinicae_ (1831); Ma Kien-chung, _Ma
shih wen t'ung_ (1899); L.C. Hopkins, _The Six Scripts_ (1881) and
_The Development of Chinese Writing_ (1910); H.A. Giles, _A
Chinese-English Dictionary_ (2nd ed., 1910). (H. A. GI.; L. GI.)

VIII. CHINESE LITERATURE

The literature of China is remarkable (1) for its antiquity, coupled
with an unbroken continuity down to the present day; (2) for the variety
of subjects presented, and for the exhaustive treatment which, not only
each subject, but also each subdivision, each separate item, has
received, as well as for the colossal scale on which so many literary
monuments have been conceived and carried out; (3) for the accuracy of
its historical statements, so far as it has been possible to test them;
and further (4) for its ennobling standards and lofty ideals, as well as
for its wholesome purity and an almost total absence of coarseness and
obscenity.

No history of Chinese literature in the Chinese language has yet been
produced; native scholars, however, have adopted, for bibliographical
purposes, a rough division into four great classes. Under the first of
these, we find the Confucian Canon, together with lexicographical,
philological, and other works dealing with the elucidation of words.
Under the second, histories of various kinds, officially compiled,
privately written, constitutional, &c.; also biography, geography and
bibliography. Under the third, philosophy, religion, e.g. Buddhism; the
arts and sciences, e.g. war, law, agriculture, medicine, astronomy,
painting, music and archery; also a host of general works, monographs,
and treatises on a number of topics, as well as encyclopaedias. The
fourth class is confined to poetry of all descriptions, poetical
critiques, and works dealing with the all-important rhymes.

_Poetry._--Proceeding chronologically, without reference to Chinese
classification, we have to begin, as would naturally be expected, with
the last of the above four classes. Man's first literary utterances in
China, as elsewhere, took the form of verse; and the earliest Chinese
records in our possession are the national lyrics, the songs and
ballads, chiefly of the feudal age, which reaches back to over a
thousand years before Christ. Some pieces are indeed attributed to the
18th century B.C.; the latest bring us down to the 6th century B.C. Such
is the collection entitled _Shih Ching_ (or _She King_), popularly known
as the Odes, w