The Historical Impact Of The Nascent Divergence Of Great Classics On Chinese And Western Cultures And Symbolic Thinking

Culture is the quintessential manifestation of a civilization. In its nascent form, culture and symbolic thinking as embodied in the early poetry of a people provide the key to exploring the cultural metaphysics of a society. In this regard, The Book of Songs and Holy Bible, each in its own historical context, are two most authoritative and irreplaceable testimonies.While a great deal of research has been devoted to the study of The Book of Songs and Holy Bible, respectively, by Chinese and Western scholars, resulting in a wealth of understanding of the social, cultural, historical and literal contexts of the two works, much remains to be studied of the two in a comparative mode.This thesis intents to make a comparative study of the two classics as the headsprings of two cultures, and through an analysis of the social, cultural and historical peculiarities surrounding the birth of the two classics, to highlight the characteristic diversities on the social and cultural background, narrative pattern, themes, content and symbolic representation skills. These diversities have produced far-reaching impact on the subsequent development of the two cultures.The thesis consists of six parts. The introduction discusses the meaning and methodology of the thesis; Chapter one focuses on the position and influence of the two classics on Sino-West cultural history; Chapter two analyses the different narrative ways and intentions; Chapter three explains the themes and contents of the two classics; Chapter four describes the differences of symbolic representation and thinking formation by the early poetry. In conclusion, the author provides a summary of the major themes of the thesis.