Since I'm Taking the Grad School Exam Anyway, I'll Livestream a Review of Ancient Chinese Literary History

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Liu Hui failed his graduate school entrance exam. He fell asleep hugging his textbook on the history of classical Chinese literature, only to drop into a place called the Guixu Dream Nightmare. To leave, he has to livestream for the ancients for a full 1,000 hours, and he has to appear on camera instead of padding out the time. So Liu Hui follows the order of topics in his textbook and begins livestreaming for the ancients.

[Part One: Pre-Qin Literature, the Glorious Source of Chinese Literature]

[Part Two: The Han Dynasties, the Rise of Fu Poetry and the Consolidation and Innovation of Poetic Forms]

[Part Three: The Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Rise of Literary Criticism and the Advancement of Aesthetics]

[Part Four: The Sui and Tang, the Golden Age of Poetry]

[Part Five: The Song Dynasty, the Flourishing of Song Lyrics]

Liu Hui diligently gives immersive livestream lectures on the Book of Songs and Han fu, as well as Tang poetry, Song lyrics, Yuan drama, and even novels from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Before long, every literary great is watching him. Eventually, everyone ends up in Liu Hui's livestream.

People even start leaving comments.

At first, the comments are fairly normal.

Li Qingzhao: I never imagined later generations would have a literary form like Dream of the Red Chamber. Fascinating!

Qin Shi Huang: Can eating Tang Sanzang's flesh really make you immortal?

Bai Juyi: The Rain on the Wutong Tree is beautifully written! It has the same effect as my Song of Everlasting Regret!

Then, for some reason, the comments start going off the rails.

Du Fu: Could you get Li Bai's autograph for me?

Li Bai: I love Meng the Master...

Yuan Zhen: There's something I'd like to say to Letian...

Liu Hui reads the comments, baffled.

Master Yuan, don't you already know Master Bai?

Yuan Zhen comments again: I'm embarrassed!

Liu Hui: ...

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Liu Hui doesn't spend the same amount of time in every dynasty. The exact allocation depends on how important he thinks each period is for the graduate school entrance exam.

He spends just two hours in the Western Han.

Before he leaves, Dongfang Shuo stops him.

Dongfang Shuo seems to know that he is from a later age.

He kindly offers some advice.

"Perhaps in your eyes, I'm just an insignificant line in the history books."

"But you and I, and all the people of this world, are no more than a grain in a great granary."

"In the days ahead, I hope you'll respect the ancients, the written word, literature, and works of art. Take care."

1. Keep discussion friendly. Feedback about bugs is welcome.

2. Written while face-rolling across the keyboard in an attempt to review my major subjects.

3. These are all parallel worlds, but the course of history remains unchanged.

Who failed to get into graduate school?

Me.

Sob.

(Throws a tantrum and rolls around on the spot)

Theme: Don't belittle yourself, and don't give up too easily