Briefly describe the three stages of the development of pre-Qin literature and the main situation of each stage.

Before the Spring and Autumn Period, the development of literature was still in the primary stage. Poetry is the earliest literary style. When human beings have language, they have language. Primitive poetry is closely connected with human labor and life, and is combined with music and dance. "Huai Nan Zi Dao Ying Xun" said: "If people hold a big tree today, it is a song of persuasion to call' bad promises' before and respond to them later." The so-called "evil promise" is like "Yu Hang Yu Hang". The creator of this kind of labor songs is what Lu Xun said in "Talking about Foreign Languages". It shows that poetry originated from human collective productive labor. "Lu Chunqiu Ancient Music" said: "The joy of the past, three people fuck the oxtail and cast their feet with songs." Thus, primitive ballads are inseparable from music and dance.

In addition to primitive ballads, ancient oral literature also contains myths and legends. There are rich and colorful myths in ancient China, but they have been lost for a long time and have not been systematically and completely preserved. Some fragmentary fragments we see now are mostly from legends and records of later generations, which are not completely the true colors of ancient myths, but basically retain the forms and characteristics of ancient myths. Fairy stories scattered in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Huainanzi and other ancient books, such as Female Insects Mend the Sky, Kuafu Daily, Jingwei Reclaiming the Sea, Gun Yu Governing the Water, Special Edition of the Republic of China, Strange Man, etc., include different types of creation myths, natural myths, heroic myths and legendary myths. These fairy tales are widely circulated in the mouth of ancient people. They have immortal cognitive value and high aesthetic value, and are worthy of being the "arsenal" and "soil" of literature and art.

The oldest extant document is Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the Yin and Shang Dynasties more than 3,000 years ago. Since 1899, the Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Yin Ruins has been found in Xiaotun Village, northwest of Anyang, Henan Province, which proves that at the latest in the middle period of Yin Shang society (about14th century BC), China had the original stereotyped characters and historical documents recorded in words. Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a divination record engraved on tortoise shells and animal bones, and occasionally there are several words or other accidental notes related to divination. The author of Oracle Bone Inscriptions was a wizard, who was both a god and a historian in the Shang Dynasty. Yin people are superstitious about ghosts and gods, and everything must be predicted. At this time, writing notes is mainly to record the Oracle. The content of divination is very extensive, including hunting life, agricultural production, sacrifice and war, routine and occupying great events. According to the existing literature, Oracle Bone Inscriptions is the earliest prose of China. It is characterized by simple content, simple form, simple words and no chapters. For example:

It rained today. It rains from the west? Is it raining in the east? It rains from the north? Is it raining in the south? ("Complete Works of Oracle Bone Inscriptions" 375)

Chen Bu and Zhen: Can't we ignore Dan and Wang today? Its mourning? ("Discrimination of Wen Yi in Yin Ruins" 64)