Chinese literature

Ancient texts

The Four Books (四書, S� shū) are
- The Great Learning, (大學, D� Xu�).
- The Doctrine of the Golden Mean (中庸, Zhōng Y�ng).
- The Analects of Confucius (論語, L�n Yǔ), a book of pithy sayings attributed to Confucius.
- Mencius (孟子, M�ng Zǐ).
The Five Classics (五經, Wǔ jīng) are
- The Classic of Poetry (詩經, Shī Jīng), made up of 305 poems.
- The Classic of History (書經, Shū Jīng) contains examples of early Chinese prose.
- The Book of Changes or I Ching (易經, Y� Jīng), a manual of divination based on the eight trigrams.
- The Classic of Rites (禮記, Lǐ J�) describes ancient rites and court ceremonies.
- The Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋, Chūn Qiū).
- The Classic of Music (樂經) is sometime referred to as the sixth classic, but is lost.
Other classics:
- The Classic of The Way and its Virtue or Tao Te Ching (道德經, Dao De Jing), attributed to Lao Zi.
- The True Classic of Perfect Emptiness, attributed to Lie Zi.
- The Classic of Filial Piety (孝經, Xiao Jing)
- The Three Character Classic
Other ancient texts
- Zhuang Zi
- The book of Xun Zi
- The Art of War (孙子兵法) by Sun Tzu

The Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦, also known as A Dream of Red Mansions or The Chronicles of the Stone (石頭記, Sh�t�u J�), by 曹雪芹 C�o Xuěq�n
Water Margin (水浒传), also known as All Men Are Brothers and Outlaws of the Marsh), by 施耐庵 Shī N�i'ān
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义) by 罗贯中 Lu� Gu�nzhōng
The Journey to the West (西游记), also known as Monkey King and Monkey, by 吴承恩 W� Ch�ng'ēn.

The above 4 classics are often called the Si Da Ming Zhu or the Four Classics.

王韬 Wang Tao (1828-1897)
嚴復 Yan Fu (1853 - 1924)
劉鶚 Liu E (1857 - 1909)
梁啟超 Liang Qichao (1873-1929)
王國維 Wang Guowei (1877 - 1927)
胡适 Hu Shih (1891-1962)
蘇曼殊 Su Manshu (1894 - 1918)
魯迅 Lu Xun (1881 - 1936)
許地山 Xu Dishan (1893 - 1941)
叶圣陶 Ye Shengtao (1894-1988)
林語堂 Lin Yutang (1895 - 1976)
茅盾 Mao Dun (1896 - 1981)
徐志摩 Xu Zhimo (1896 - 1936)
郁達夫 Yu Dafu (1896 - 1945)
Wang Tongzhao (1897-1957)
郭沫若 Guo Moruo (1892 - 1978)
老舍 Lao She (1897 - 1966)
朱自清 Zhu Ziqing (1898 - 1948)
田漢 Tian Han (1898 - 1968)
Feng Zhikai (1898-1975)
聞一多 Wen Yiduo (1899 - 1946)
Yu Pinbo (1900-1990)
冰心 Bing Xin (1900 - 1999)
巴金 Ba Jin (1905 - )
沈從文 Shen Congwen (1902 - 1988)
曹禺 Cao Yu (1905- )
錢鐘書 Qian Zhongshu (1910 - 1988)
He Qifang (1912-1977)
张爱玲 Eileen Chang (1920 - 1995)
汪曾祺 Wang Zengqi (1920 - 1997)
金庸 Jinyong (1924 - )
高行健 Gao Xingjian, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2000 (1940 - )
铁凝 Tie Ning (1957 - )

Chinese writers writing in English: