China's earliest prose

China's earliest prose can be traced back to Oracle Bone Inscriptions, which appeared about 3,000 years ago.

First, Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions refers to the characters carved on tortoise shells and animal bones in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, which were used to record divination. They are the characters carved on tortoise shells and animal bones by the Yin people with knives, and they are one of the earliest documented documents unearthed. Due to different excavation sites, it can be divided into Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins and Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Joo Won?.

Second, the role of Oracle Bone Inscriptions

Oracle Bone Inscriptions's function is mainly to record and convey the beliefs, decisions, doubts and expectations of ancient ancestors. It is an important means for ancient ancestors to communicate with gods and an important way to understand ancient society, culture and politics. Oracle Bone Inscriptions is not only a record of divination, but also has important historical value.

They recorded the politics, economy, culture and other aspects of the commercial society, and provided valuable information for us to understand the ancient society. In addition, Oracle Bone Inscriptions is an important material for studying ancient languages. Through the study of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, we can understand the origin and development of ancient Chinese characters, which is of great significance to the study of ancient Chinese languages.

The evolution of prose:

First, the embryonic period of pre-Qin prose

China's prose sprouted in the pre-Qin period and was mainly preserved in Shangshu, Chunqiu, Zuozhuan, Guoyu and Warring States Policy. Prose in this period is still in the primary stage, with notes and words as the main practical writing. It is relatively simple, but it already has rich expressive techniques and rhetorical skills.

Second, the maturity of prose in Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty is the mature period of China's prose development, and the prose in this period gradually got rid of the shackles of practical writing and began to develop into literariness.

The representative works of prose in Han Dynasty are Historical Records by Sima Qian and Hanshu by Ban Gu. These works not only have high literary value, but also record the political, economic and cultural conditions of the society at that time, which provides valuable information for us to understand ancient history.

Third, the literary prose in Tang, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The Tang and Song Dynasties are the peak period of China literature development, and also the important stage of China's prose development. The representative works of Tang and Song prose include Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan's ancient prose movement and Ouyang Xiu's Six Sons of Song. These works pay attention to expressing the author's thoughts, feelings and life experiences, and have high literary value.

On the basis of inheriting the previous generation, prose in Ming and Qing dynasties has further developed and innovated. Representative works include Wang Yangming's Biography and Li Zhi's Burning Books.