Chinese literature

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress A book is not simply words on paper; it is the messages of an author, the life of a character and the power of entertainment or information. Literature is one of the most popular ways of human expression due to the impact that it has on its readers, which is often a reason for its condemnation in certain occasions in history. This effect is present in Dai Sijie’s historical fiction, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, where nearly all morals of…

The silver trade led to the increase of tension between social classes, the monetization of the Chinese economy, and opposition to bans on foreign trade due to the demand for luxury goods. The demand for luxury Asian goods was also predominant in India. Europeans would also trade along the Indian Ocean for Indian spices and cloth. This fits into the growth of a mercantilist economy as European nations would compete against each other for the supply of silver in the Americas, similar to how…

different than other autobiographies. First of all, it is an autobiography by a Chinese American woman. Then, she included lots of fantastic elements. Moreover, the protagonist of her autobiography is not only her, but her mother, fictive characters from Chinese folk ballads, as well as an aunt whom she never met. First published in 1976, it became a huge success and later it was listed as one of the fist canonized Chinese American writings. However, Kingston’s piece of writing…

In much of current day fiction literature, the side perceived as good or just will commonly win in the end. This is an extremely common cliché that plagues much of literature, and is especially especially when the author writes in static scenarios and characters just to progress the plot. In the short story “All the King’s Men” by Kurt Vonnegut there are many instances in which events happen only to progress the plot towards a “happy” ending, such as Pi Ying dying, Colonel Kelly’s son not…

novel by Larissa Lai, published in 2002, Salt Fish Girl melds elements of Chinese myth and culture with science fiction to make commentary on current issues such as gender and sexuality, biotechnology, and the dangers of capitalism. Born in the United States of Chinese descent, Lai was raised in Canada, and graduated from a Canadian university with her PhD in Sociology. She is currently a writer, poet, and professor of literature at the University of British Columbia (“Larissa Lai”). Lai’s…

This is because the merchants in China at that time of great global commerce would have been directly involved in the trade of Chinese goods, such as silk, with people from other nations. Since these merchants were responsible for the exchange of their merchandise for silver, they would have experienced the desire to acquire this new currency and the impact the incursion of the silver…

The brief introduction of “Legend” and “Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon” The theme of “silence” is a primary symbol in the two poems “Legend” and “Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon.” However, each poem expresses the idea of silence differently based on the author’s cultures. They not only express silence, but also articulate contemplation. However, on account of the dissimilar cultures of the two authors, “Legend” has a fiery love behind it, while “Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon” has an occupied…

Literatures can make us dissatisfied with our lives and even make us jealous of the strange anomalies that occur in the life of a fictional character. Take my life as an example: a typical Chinese boy in Canada living under a stereotypical Chinese roof; with that, my family forces encourages me to look in the direction of universities and with an invisible hand they impatiently drag patiently guide me towards their my own goals. In other words, my life has no clear purpose, no strong climax, no…

palace of western literature when I started from ABC on, then read simple passages, later moved onto the beautiful essays and poetry and at last plunged into the classics by literary masters. Literary works are the inspirations from writers’ hearts. William Shakespeare and his plays, Francis Bacon and his philosophy, the poetry by William Wordsworth and Percy B. Shelley and the novels by Thomas Hardy and Mark Twain, they displayed…

There are many reasons why reading literature is important to society and important to being human. Reading literature allows us to step into someone else’s shoes and understand their differences and culture. Allowing us to step in someone else’s shoes, we can feel sympathy, rage, happiness, or love; giving us these emotions means that we can experience empathy, which is the one aspect that makes us human. Authors have the ability to reach these emotions within people by using diction, imagery,…