ABSTRACT
The ancient period encompasses the pre-Qin and the Qin-Han eras. This was the time of gestation for all kinds of literary genres. In the first stage, that of the pre-Qin, there was no complete separation between literature, history and philosophy, or between poetry, music and dancing. In the second stage, that of the Qin and Han Dynasties, poems of five or seven characters to a line appeared, along with a large number of authors. The stage of classical Chinese literature which extended from the Wei and Jin Dynasties through the Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, to the middle period of the Ming Dynasty was a period when all the important literary genres emerged and flourished. The first stage of the middle period of Chinese classical literature lasted from the time of the Wei and Jin Dynasties until the middle of the Tang Dynasty.
