Mural guide
A scholar pauses over an unfurled scroll while a companion recites to listeners in a riverside study framed by willow and distant mountains.
Master calligraphy, painting and rubbings: the literary spirit that brush and ink left for a thousand years
From the springs of Shijing and Chuci to the zenith of High Tang poetry: the crowning glory of Oriental lyricism.
Letters
Inscriptions carved on oracle bones, romantic fire ignited in Li Sao: a panoramic view of the spiritual world and classical narratives of Oriental scholars across two millennia.
Chinese CharactersShang dynasty to presentCharacters that join form, sound and meaning: Shang oracle bones, the Qin standard script and Xu Shen's Six Writings.
Confucian ClassicsHan dynasty to presentThe Confucian classics: Han chairs for the Five Classics, Kong Yingda's Tang commentaries, Zhu Xi's Four Books in Yuan exams.
Chu Poetry & Li SaoWarring States to presentRomantic poetry voicing lofty solitude through fragrant plants, fair ladies, landscapes and myth.
Masters' ProseZhou dynasty to presentThe prose of the pre-Qin thinkers, whose debates shaped classical argument.
Records of the Grand HistorianHan dynasty to presentThe history that began the biographical form, both a major work of history and a model of narrative prose.
Rhyme & CoupletsNorthern and Southern dynasties to presentTonal balance and parallelism in idioms, couplets and parallel prose, from Shen Yue's four tones to Meng Chang's spring couplet.
Tang Poetry MeterTang dynasty to presentTang regulated verse, expressing feeling and imagery within strict rules of tone and meter.
Song Lyric RhythmTang dynasty to presentUneven lines set to banquet tunes: Wen Tingyun's lyrics, the anthology Among the Flowers and Su Shi's bold style.
Yuan Qu Verse1 branchesVerse set to fixed tunes in sanqu and zaju: Guan Hanqing's plays, the Zhongyuan yinyun rhyme book and the Yuanqu xuan anthology.
Vernacular FictionMing dynasty to presentChaptered vernacular novels: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber.