A Study Of The Proverbs In The Pre - Qin Period

As the unique form of literature, the ballads and proverbs are widely distributed in ancient writings. Compared with other literary forms, it is oral tradition. Because of those characteristics, they are scattered in the books. So it is with the ballads and proverbs of the Pre-Qin. The books of Pre-Qin to Han Dynasty have saved a lot of precious ballads and proverbs. Based on those materials, this paper will have further research about them.At first, the collection and research work of the ballads and proverbs of Pre-Qin is summarized. From Song Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, Academia focused on the collection work. In modern times, "the ballad movement" marked the comprehensive research about the ballads and proverbs of Pre-Qin. In addition to the collection work, academia set about to participate into the study of multi angle.The Pre-Qin ballads and proverbs are rich in content and present different characteristics, which includes the ballads and proverbs from remote antiquity to Autumn Period and Warring States Period. Ballads of the remote antiquity are difficult to look for. There are a lot of ancient ballads which were fabricated according to the history books. Ballads of the Xia and Shang Dynasties are also very few and sometimes the ballads are unreliable. By the time of Zhou dynasty, especially in the Autumn Period and Warring States Period, ballads and proverbs are booming in the books. There are ballads about political life and personal emotion. Proverbs within wisdom also appears widely.The ballads and proverbs of this period has a distinctive style. Take the ballads for instance, they are two words sentences In the early stages. Along with time passing, the form is getting improved and developed well, which appears four or seven words sentences. And Differences between the north and the South are widened. Proverbs are shorter, which are mainly made of four-word sentences.