China Group

In China, the system of writing began at around 1300 BC under the Shang
Dynasty. Following suit, Chinese literature was established using their formal language
of Classical Chinese. Under another dynasty between 1045 to 225 BC—the Zhou dynasty
—, the Chinese writing system blossomed from mere hieroglyphs to bodies of religious
texts, marking the beginnings of Chinese literature.
The philosophical texts written in this era comprised the great literary pieces that
served as a foundation to Confucianism and Taoism, amongst other budding systems of
beliefs, of which little are known due to their lost records caused by the book burning
event in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). This then reduced China’s “One Hundred
Schools of Thought”, as well as standardized the Chinese writing system. However,
despite such literary destruction, political literature did thrive in this time, emphasizing an
emperor’s power and thus contributing to their seemingly unending reigns.
During the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), it was the turn of scientific and
historical texts to prosper, and in the subsequent dynasties, more forms of literature
emerged and became prominent. These were less formal or knowledge-centered pieces
that ranged from the Tang Dynasty’s poetry, the Song Dynasty’s travel and neo-
Confucianism literature, the Yuan Dynasty’s dramas and fictions, to the Ming and Qing
Dynasty’s novels, until it has become the modern Chinese literature that we produce and
consume today, though now riddled with Western principles.
Chinese literature began more than two thousand years ago, with The Book of
Poetry (Shijing) as its first anthology. This book, compiled sometime after 600B.C. by
Confucius (551–479 B.C.), is a collection of 305 poems that date back to the period
between approximately 800 and 600 B.C. Among the rhetorical devices employed in this
first poem of The Book of Poetry is the use of metaphor — crying ospreys compared to
the lord and lady, for instance. Following The Book of Poetry, highlights of traditional
Chinese Literature Include The Songs of the South (Chuci); the prose writings in history
and philosophy of the Qin and Han dynasties; Tang poetry; the Song lyric; the prose of
theTang and Song dynasties; and the short stories, novels, and dramas from the Tang to
the Qing Dynasties. The modern period of Chinese literature, which began in the 1910s,
isevenmore multifarious and voluminous. Running the risk of abstraction and
oversimplification, Chinese literature is characterized as the expression of both the heart
and the mind, as concerning the individual and society, as variously sublime and graceful,
and as blending reality and the imagination. Traditional Chinese literature developed
under the intellectual influences of Confucianism, Daoism (Taoism), and Buddhism.
Confucianism Preaches Benevolence, righteousness, individual effort, commitment to
society, and harmony among people. Traditional Chinese literature came under the
influence of Christianity in the Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644), when Western missionaries
made their way to China. As music is related to poetry, traditional Chinese poetry was
inevitably influenced by the music of the non-Chinese ethnic groups who resided mostly
on the Chinese borders. In general, traditional Chinese literature, though mainly a product
of Chinese civilization, has absorbed, in its course of development, certain elements from
cultures other than the Chinese. Chinese literature in the twentieth century made a
dramatic turn totheWest. This change affected not just literature but virtually all aspects
of Chinese culture. 
 To be sure, twentieth-century Chinese literature has been receptive to the literary
works of such Eastern countries as India and Japan, but the presence of theWest is quite
overwhelming. In Modern times, Chinese writers have remained prolific. Though the
social impact of literature may be as monumental as it was in the past, the Chinese
Literary Tradition is nevertheless prosperous. Notable names include Mo Yan, a fictionist
who won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature. Remarkable too were the novels of YuHua,
Wang Shuo and Shi Tiesheng, and the stories of Gao Xiaosheng, Wang Zengqi, and
Zhang Chenzhi. As religion, war, and politics shaped Asian societies, literature prospered
to mirror these developments. As children of this continent, we need to appreciate the
literary outputs of our Asian neighbors.
 
 Japan Group

The Japanese owed the origins of their writing system to China. Some of the
oldest known pieces of Japanese literature are the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, the former
being a collection of myths and legends and the latter being a historical chronicle. A third
ancient literary piece is the Man’yoshu, a vast collection of poems. We can see in these
examples, however early, the recurring patterns and themes of Asian literature that until
today are palpable.
 
These genres of Japanese literature continued and prospered into their golden era
of art, the Heian period (794-1185), in which classical pieces of poetry, fiction, novels,
and essays on the topics of life, love, nature, and nobility were evident. Specific examples
would be the Genji Monogatari, Kokin Wakashu, and Makura no Soshi.
The Asian literature feat of telling tales of hardships and setting examples of
reflection and morality are also based in Japanese literature—especially from the
Kamakura-Muromachi Period of 1185-1600—, where we saw epics like the Heike
Monogatari, as well as pieces such as the Hojoki and Tsurezuregusa.
The Kabuki drama of the Edo Period (1600-1868), as well as the Haiku and
Renga types of poetry continued to shape the bigger picture of not just Japanese but also
Asian literature. However, such developments became intermingled by Western literary
ideas at around 1868-1945 during the Meiji Period. Free verse and romanticism started to
reign, especially during the war. The literary period that then followed was filled with
more stories centered on socio-political awareness. However, later, fiction and non-
fiction pieces of every genre—especially in the form of Manga—started to dominate the
scene, resulting in the Japanese literary landscape that we know today.
Japanese literature has been influenced heavily by the Chinese literature from the
ancient period all the way to the Edo Period (1603-1868) which corresponds to the early
modern Japanese literature. Japanese literary works also reveal elements of Indian and
later of Western elements but above all, they reveal a distinct style which has also greatly
influenced both Eastern and Western literatures. Japanese literature can be divided into
four periods: the ancient, classical, medieval, and modern. 
Ancient literature in Japan deals primarily with myths and legends. Tales Like
The creation of Japan, wherein the islands came from the gemstones imbued with the
swords of gods are very prominent during this period. The celebrated writers during this
period are Ono Yasumaro, Nihon Shoki, and Man’yoshu who wrote based on real events
in the country. The classical literature in Japan occurred during the golden age, the  
Heian period. During this period, Murasaki Shikibu, one of the greatest Japanese Writers,
wrote the seminal text, Tale of Genji. Tale of Genji, considered the world’s first novel, is
a very charming and accurate depiction of the Japanese court during the Heian period
under the reign of Empress Akiko. History and literature were intertwined during the
Medieval period due to the influence of the civil wars and the emergence of the warrior
class. Thus, war tales are very prominent during this period. Besides war stories and tales,
the popular form of Japanese poetry, the renga, saw its rise. Modern literature can be
further divided into early modern, which happened during the Edo period, and modern,
which started during the Meiji period, whenJapan opened its doors to the West. The early
modern gave way to the rise of new genres like the Japanese drama, kabuki, the poetry
form known for its simplicity and subtlety, haiku, and the yomihon, a type of Japanese
book which put little emphasis on illustration. The modern period also marked the
emergence of new styles of writing. Japanese writers started to romanticize and tried
experimenting with different genres and subject matters. The Second World War heavily
affected Japanese literature but soon, the distinct Japanese style of writing managed to
regain its popularity. Some Of the prominent modern Japanese writers are Yasunari
Kawabata, Kobi Abe, Takiji Kobayashi, and Haruki Murakami to mention a few.
 India Group

Another epitome of Asian literature is that of India, in which some of the oldest
literary masterpieces are religious and reflective in nature, becoming the basis for the
major religion of Hinduism. Examples include the Veda hymns and the epics of
Ramayana and Mahabharata, all of which inspire morals and philosophy in the form of
myths, chants, narratives, and verses.
The rest of Indian literature molded itself over the years after these ancient texts.
India’s renowned writer, Rabindranath Tagore, exemplified such styles in his romantic
works that spanned spiritual and mystic themes mainly in various forms of prose and
poetry.
The Adikal stage of Indian literature was another example of spiritually-inclined
poetic pieces, emphasized further by the next stage of Bhakti Kal literature, which
personified God. Ritikal Literature centered on notions of love, while Adhunikaal
literature has presented itself even until the modern era in the form of more varied texts;
novels, short stories, and dramas of every genre have become apparent, especially written
in the English language that the British occupation brought.
Other prominent features of Indian literature—and therefore, Asian literature—
are its political themes like topics surrounding calls for justice, as well as feminist and
pacifist movements.
writings of the Indian subcontinent, produced there in a variety of vernacular
languages, including Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali, Bengali, Bihari, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada,
Kashmiri, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Lahnda, Siraiki,
and Sindhi, among others, as well as in English. The term Indian literature is used here to
refer to literature produced across the Indian subcontinent prior to the creation of the
Republic of India in 1947 and within the Republic of India after 1947.
The earliest Indian literature took the form of the canonical Hindu sacred
writings, known as the Veda, which were written in Sanskrit. To the Veda were added
prose commentaries such as the Brahmanas and the Upanishads. The production of
Sanskrit literature extended from about 1500 BCE to about 1000 CE and reached its
height of development in the 1st to 7th centuries CE. In addition to sacred and
philosophical writings, such genres as erotic and devotional lyrics, court poetry, plays,
and narrative folktales emerged. 
Because Sanskrit was identified with the Brahminical religion of the Vedas,
Buddhism and Jainism adopted other literary languages (Pali and Ardhamagadhi,
respectively). From these and other related languages emerged the modern languages of
northern India. The literature of those languages depended largely on the ancient Indian
background, which includes two Sanskrit epic poems, the Mahabharata and Ramayana,
as well as the Bhagavata-purana and the other Puranas. In addition, the Sanskrit
philosophies were the source of philosophical writing in the later literatures, and the
Sanskrit schools of rhetoric were of great importance for the development of court poetry
in many of the modern literatures. The South Indian language of Tamil is an exception to
this pattern of Sanskrit influence because it had a classical tradition of its own. Urdu and
Sindhi are other exceptions.
Beginning in the 19th century, particularly during the height of British control
over the subcontinent, Western literary models had an impact on Indian literature, the
most striking result being the introduction of the use of vernacular prose on a major scale.
Such forms as the novel and short story began to be adopted by Indian writers, as did
realism and an interest in social questions and psychological description. A tradition of
literature in English was also established in the subcontinent.