chinese literature

Ancient texts

The Great Learning, (大學, D Xu).
The Doctrine of the Golden Mean (中庸, Zhōng Yng).
The Analects of Confucius (論語, Ln Yǔ), a book of pithy sayings attributed to Confucius.
Mencius (孟子, Mng Zǐ).

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.

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

Fang Pao (1668-1749)
Liu Daqui (1698-1779)
Yiao Nai (1731-1815)
Yuan Mu (1716-1798)
Gong Zhizhen (1792-1841)
Wei Yuan (1794-1857)

See List of Chinese language novelists

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, Shtu J), by 曹雪芹 Co Xuěqn
Water Margin (水浒传), also known as All Men Are Brothers and Outlaws of the Marsh), by 施耐庵 Shī Ni'ān
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义) by 罗贯中 Lu Gunzhōng
The Journey to the West (西游记), also known as Monkey King and Monkey, by 吴承恩 W Chng'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: