The first long narrative poem in China was the Legend of the White Snake.
The longest long narrative poem in China was 'Dream of the Red Chamber'. It was written in the Qing Dynasty, with 128 chapters and about 4 million words. The novel used the love story of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and others as the main line, interweaving the rise and fall of the family, political struggles, religious culture and other elements to show the customs and cultural features of traditional Chinese society. This novel was hailed as the pinnacle of Chinese classical novels and one of the treasures of Chinese culture.
The earliest long narrative poem preserved in our country is the Song of Everlasting Sorrow. It was a narrative poem written by Bai Juyi, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. It described the love story between Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Yang Guifei. This poem has more than 800 sentences and is regarded as one of the longest narrative poems in ancient China. It is also a classic in the history of Chinese literature.
There were relatively few epics and long poems in China mainly because the political, social, and cultural environment of ancient China was different from that of western countries. In ancient China, the political system was relatively closed, the society was relatively stable, and the people's lives were relatively comfortable. Moreover, the ancient Chinese cultural tradition emphasized family, clan, and social status. People's values were also mainly utilitarian-based. Epic, long poems, and other literary works were often seen as a symbol of inheriting family and social status, so it was more difficult to create. Ancient Chinese literature was mostly poetry and prose, while epics, long poems and other literary works required beautiful language, complex plots, vivid characters, and sincere emotions. This required the author to have high literary attainments and creative skills. In addition, the cultural tradition of ancient China also influenced the creation of literature to a certain extent. The main schools of ancient Chinese literature, such as Tang poetry, Song poetry, Yuan opera, etc., mostly focused on personal expression and expression rather than emphasizing social significance and historical value. To sum up, the cultural tradition, politics, social and cultural environment, and literary forms of ancient China all influenced the relatively small number of epics and long poems.
"Ode of Mulan" was a long narrative folk song from the Northern and Southern Dynasties in China. It was also a Yuefu poem. It told the story of a girl named Mulan, who disguised herself as a man and joined the army for her father. She made meritorious deeds on the battlefield, and when she returned to the court, she was unwilling to be an official. She only wanted to go home and reunite. This poem created the immortal image of Mulan, which was both legendary and touching. Mulan was both an extraordinary woman and an ordinary person, both a heroine and a civilian girl, both a vigorous warrior and a delicate daughter. She was hardworking, kind, determined, brave, honest, simple, agile, and lively. She loved her relatives and served the country. She did not envy high officials and rich salaries but loved a peaceful life. This poem had a strong folk song characteristic. It described the mood of the characters and portrayed the psychology of the characters with the methods of question and answer, arrangement, antithesis, and intertextuality. It was vivid and meticulous and had a strong artistic appeal. The story of Mulan joining the army on behalf of her father was well-known in China, and Mulan's image had always been loved by people.
A long narrative poem is a literary form that usually contains a large number of plots and characters, as well as complex plot lines and emotional clues. Long narrative poems are usually presented in the form of traditional poetry, but they can also be presented in other forms such as rap, folktales, plays, etc. In a long narrative poem, the author would usually use a lot of symbols and metaphor to describe the character's personality, psychology, and plot development. Long narrative poems also often contain a lot of dialogue to show the communication and conflict between the characters. The main purpose of a long narrative poem was to convey the author's values and worldview by describing a complex story and character relationships. Therefore, long narrative poems usually involved topics such as war, love, religion, and social change. The long narrative poem is a literary form with a profound cultural background. It has its unique charm and value not only in China but also in all parts of the world.
The first historical work with a detailed and comprehensive narrative in China was the Records of the Historian. It was a historical work written by Sima Qian of the Han Dynasty. It recorded historical events and figures from the Xia Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty. It was a classic work of ancient Chinese historical works. The Records of the Historian had a profound influence on the study and development of ancient Chinese history and was regarded as one of the treasure troves of ancient Chinese historical documents.
The first detailed historical chronicle in China was the Records of the Historian.
The first book in our country was the Book of Songs. It was the earliest collection of poems in ancient China, which included poems from the Pre-Qin period (11th century B.C. to 6th century B.C.). The Book of Songs is divided into three parts: Feng, Ya, and Song. It contains 305 poems, of which 160 are Feng, 14 are Ya, and 11 are Song.
The first dictionary in our country was Zilin, which was created by Zheng Zhong, a scholar of the Western Han Dynasty. It was the earliest comprehensive dictionary in our country and also one of the important materials for the study of Chinese characters.
Our country's first dictionary was Shuo Wen Jie Zi. It was a dictionary of ancient Chinese characters written by Xu Shen, a scholar in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. This dictionary contains more than 2500 Chinese characters 'pronunciation, meaning, glyph, structure, and other aspects of knowledge. It is one of the important milestone in Chinese philology and philology.