1. China’s Government
and Literature

2. ♦ Form of Government: People's Republic.
♦ Constitution. Fourth constitution since
1954; effective December 1982.
♦ Chief of State. President/chairman of the
republic.

3. President Xi Jinping
♦

4. Head of Government. Premier.
♦
Li
Keqiang

5. Vice-premier in charge of
economic affairs
♦

6. ♦ Legislature. National People's Congress; annual
sessions; term 5 years.
♦ Standing Committee. The executive, elected by
National People's Congress; consists of chairman,
vice-chairmen, and members.
♦ State Council. Cabinet; consists of premier, vice-
premiers, and ministers, all appointed by National
People's Congress.

7. ♦ Judiciary. Supreme People's Court--the highest
judicial organ of the state--consists of one
president and one vice president; term, 4 years.
Other courts include Special People's Courts,
Local People's Courts. Supreme People's
Procuratorates and Local People's Procuratorates
enforce laws.
♦ Communist Party. The government is controlled
by the main organs of the Communist party,
including the Central Advisory Commission, the
Central Committee, and the Politburo. Party
membership (1980): 38,000,000.

8. ♦ Political Divisions. 21 provinces; 5
autonomous regions; 3 special status
municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin).
♦ Voting Qualifications. All citizens over 18
years of age can vote with the exception of
persons deprived of voting by law.

9. References
♦ http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phal
♦ http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=501

10. Photos from
♦ www.google.com

11. THE FIRST SAGE OF CHINA

12. Confucius or Kung Fu-tzu (551–
479 BCE)
♦ Born of a poor but aristocratic family in the
state of Lu, he was orphaned at an early
age.
• Held minor government posts
• Died at the age of 72
• Taught a total of 3,000 disciples
• His former students and disciples gathered
together, in order to assemble all the
sayings of their teacher.

13. ♦ They looked upon their great teacher as an
- Educator
- Statesman
- Philosopher
- Traditionalist
- & the Founder of Chinese Literature

14. 5 Books of Confucius
1. Book of Changes (Yi King)
- made up of a geometrical combination of six
lines plus sixty four explanatory essays.
- used for divination
- supposed by some to present a secret and
profound philosophy but no key has been
found.

15. 2. Book of Ceremonies (Li King)
-this voluminous work on etiquette was re-
edited about 100 B.C. by two Tai cousins,
based on documents allegedly written by
Confucius.

16. 3. Book of Historical Documents (Shu King)
- this is a formulation of the political ideals
and fundamentals of good government.

17. 4. Book of Poetry (Shi King)
- a selection of 305 best poems, the book stresses
the cherishing of thoughts and sentiments of
forebears.
- Some poems are odes written for various
occasions; some are lyric.
- The book is valuable for insight into manners and
customs of the ancient Chinese

18. 5. Book of Spring and Autumn (Ch’un Ch’iu)
- its praises were as stimulating as spring,
while its censures were as withering as
autumn.

19. Mencius
- a good organizer and proselytizer
- Gathered the discourses and sayings of
Confucius as recorded by the disciples and
organized them into books, the best known
of which is the book of Analects.

20. 6 principles:
1. Human nature is good and evil is essentially
unnatural.
2. Man is free to conduct himself as he will, and he
is master of his choice.
3. Virtue is its own reward’. If one does good for a
reward or avoids evil for fear of punishment –
that is not virtue.
4. The rule for individual behavior is: what you do
not want others do unto you, do not do to them.

21. 5. A man has five duties: to his ruler; to his
father; his wife ( and she to him); to his
elder brother; to his friends; and the most
important of these is filial duty.
6. Man should strive to become a superior
man.

22. CONFUCIANISM
- the philosophical system founded on the
teaching of Confucius (551-479 B.C.)
- It sought to help the rulers maintain
domestic order, preserve tradition, and
maintain a constant standard of living
for the tazpaying peasants.

23. Doctrine
- to the humanistic understanding of Heaven,
humanity and the harmony between them,
while also forming its own distinctive
doctrines through concentrating on human
self-cultivation and self-transformation.

24. ♦ At the heart of Mencius' teaching is the
belief that human beings are born with the
knowledge of the good and the ability to do
well. Everyone is born with what Mencius
described as the 'four beginnings':
benevolence, righteousness, respect and the
capacity to distinguish the "right" from the
"wrong".

25. ♦ Anyone who fully realises his heart/mind
understands Heaven and serves the mandate
of Heaven, through which he is able to
become a sage, and participates in the
creation and recreation of Heaven and
Earth.

26. ♦ These beliefs influenced Mencius'
perception of politics. The doctrine of
benevolence must be brought into politics
so that government is humane and moral. It
is the responsibility of the ruler to ensure
the economic well being of his subjects, to
provide them with education and, in doing
so, to rule through winning their loyalty and
confidence rather than through force.

27. ♦

28. CHINESE POETS
1. Wang Wei (699-759)
- Chinese painter
- Poet
- Founder of the pure landscape style of
painting
- One of the masters of lyrics verse in the
Táng dynasty.

29. - withdrew from society to paint
- Founder of southern school of Chinese art
- And a model for the later literati (wen-jen)
artist, or unworldly poet-painter.

30. The Cold Mountain
The cold mountain turns dark green
The autumn stream flows murmuring on.
Leaning on my staff beneath the wicket
gate,
In the rushing wind I hear the cry of the
aged cicada.

31. Departure
I have just seen you go down the
mountain.
I close the wicket gate in the setting sun.
The grass will be green again in the
coming spring.
But will the wandered ever return?

32. Walking at Leisure
Walking at leisure we watch laurel
flowers falling.
In the silence of this night the spring
mountain is empty.
The moon rises, the birds are startled.
As they sing occationally near the spring
fountain.

33. Drinking Alone in the Midnight
A cup of wine, under the flowering trees;
I drink alone, for no friend is near.
Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,
For he, with my shadow, will make three
men.
The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine;
Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side.
Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow
as slave

34. I must make merry before the Spring is spent.
To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams;
In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks.
While we were sober, three shared the fun;
Now we are drunk, each goes his way.
May we long share our odd, inanimate feast,
And meet at last on the Cloudy River of the sky.[1]

35. II
In the third month the town of Hsien-yang
Is thick-spread with a carpet of fallen flowers.
Who in Spring can bear to grieve alone?
Who, sober, look on sights like these?
Riches and Poverty, long or short life,
By the Maker of Things are portioned and
disposed;

36. But a cup of wine levels life and death
And a thousand things obstinately hard to
prove.
When I am drunk, I lose Heaven and Earth.
Motionless—I cleave to my lonely bed.
At last I forget that I exist at all,
And at that moment my joy is great indeed.

37. III
If High Heaven had no love for wine,
There would not be a Wine Star in the sky.
If Earth herself had no love for wine,
There would not be a city called Wine Springs.[2]
Since Heaven and Earth both love wine,
I can love wine, without shame before God.
Clear wine was once called a Saint;[3]
Thick wine was once called “a Sage.”[3]

38. Of Saint and Sage I have long quaffed deep,
What need for me to study spirits and hsien?
[4]
At the third cup I penetrate the Great Way;
A full gallon—Nature and I are one ...
But the things I feel when wine possesses my
soul
I will never tell to those who are not drunk.

40. Tu Fu (710-70)
- regarded by many as the greatest Chinese
poet.
- Raised according to Confucian tradition
- Failed an examination that would have
assured him of a government post
- Spent much of his youth traveling around
China

41. The Empty Purse
The bitter pine cone may be eaten,
The mist on high give nourishment
The whole world takes to go-and-getting;
May way alone is difficult:
My Oven is cold as the well at morning,
And the bed wants warmth from coverlets;
My purse ashamed to found empty
Still keeps on hand a single coin.

42. Summer Nights
Cool perfume of bamboo pervades my room,
Wild moonlight in the whole courtyard:
Drop my drop falls the crystal dew.
One by one the moving stars appear.
The feeling glow worms sparkle in dark corners,
The waterfowl on the riverbank call to one another;
Everything in the world follows the path of war...
I sit on my bed, meditating through the long night.

43. SOURCE:
♦ http://nothingistic.org/library/confucius/analects/anal
♦ http://history.cultural-china.com/en/165History8897.
♦ http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16500/16500-h/16500
htm
♦ http://loucheur.blogspot.com/2012/06/summer-night-
*
http://jungleinablog.blogspot.com/2006/01/empty-pu

44. Photo Source:
♦ http://www.poetry-
chaikhana.com/W/WeiWang/images/WeiWang.jp
g
♦ http://www.poems-and-poetry.com/wp-
content/uploads/2008/10/wang-wei.jpeg
♦ http://poetrydispatch.files.wordpress.com/2007/11
/454px-dufu.jpg?w=510
♦ http://www.stillness.com/tao/li%20po.txt
♦ http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/deadpoet13/d

45. Note: I don’t own any of these
informations.
THANK YOU
FOR LISTENING 