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China Early Prose
The proponents of the Hundred Schools of Thought in the Warring
States and Spring and Autumn periods made important contributions
to Chinese prose style
(see The Hundred Schools of Thought
, ch. 1).
The writings of Mo Zi (Mo Di, 470-391 B.C.?), Mencius (Meng Zi;
372-289 B.C.), and Zhuang Zi (369-286 B.C.) contain well-reasoned,
carefully developed discourses and show a marked improvement in
organization and style over what went before. Mo Zi is known for
extensively and effectively using methodological reasoning in his
polemic prose. Mencius contributed elegant diction and, along with
Zhuang Zi, is known for his extensive use of comparisons,
anecdotes, and allegories. By the third century B.C., these writers
had developed a simple, concise prose noted for its economy of
words, which served as a model of literary form for over 2,000
years.
Data as of July 1987
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