The Division of Modern Chinese Literature

Modern and contemporary Chinese literature is usually divided into three parts: ancient literature, modern literature, and contemporary literature. Ancient literature referred to the literature from the pre-Qin period to the end of the Qing Dynasty, including the Book of Songs, the Book of History, the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Analects of Confucius, and the Book of Rites. Modern literature referred to the literary works from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the 1980s, including Lu Xun, Lao She, Mao Dun, Ba Jin, Shen Congwen, Ding Ling, Zhang Ailing, Yang Jiang, etc. The contemporary literature referred to the literary works from the 1980s to the present, including Mo Yan, Yu Hua, Jia Pingao, Liu Zhenyun, Mai Jia, Lu Yao, Liu Sola, Jia Pingao, etc. The styles, subjects, and topics of these literary works were different. They were important periods and schools in the history of Chinese literature.