Historical Evolution of Chinese Narrative Literature Theory

The Chinese narrative literature theory has gone through a long process of historical evolution.Narrative concepts burgeoned in as back as the Qin and the Han dynasties(221 B.C.-220 A.D.),and narrative theories took shape during the period starting from the kingdom of Wei(220-265) all the way to the Northern and Southern Dynasties(420-589).The period between the Tang and Qing dynasties(618-1911) witnessed the narrative literature theory further developed and full-fledged.In the whole process,the Chinese narrative literature theory,focusing on the traditional Chinese biography,narrative prose,fiction and drama,has evolved from criticism to theory while maintaining the distinctive feature of perceptual criticism.