When New China was founded, the six most influential classical novels in the history of China were collectively referred to as the six masterpieces by China literary circles at that time. In order to revitalize China's literary and artistic undertakings, improve people's cultural level and enrich people's spare time life, the State Publishing Bureau decided to publish some excellent literary works in line with the national conditions at that time. After layers of screening, they selected the four most representative ancient novels from the six famous books and became four classic novels. After these four books were printed and published, they were immediately sought after by people all over the country, and the social response was very strong. It is said that 200,000 copies of the first edition of the four classic novels series of People's Publishing House were sold out at once, and many people who could not buy them wrote to the publishing house to increase their circulation.
Since then, the original six masterpieces have gradually faded into four classic novels, so what are the other two parts of the six masterpieces? In fact, we have all studied an article in junior high school Chinese textbooks, such as Ju and Wolf, The Scholars by Wu and Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio by Pu Songling.
Fifty-six chapters of The Scholars mainly depict various people's different expressions of wealth and power in a realistic way, truly reveal how human nature is eroded step by step by power and money, and strongly criticize and ridicule the corruption of officialdom, the malpractice of imperial examination system and the hypocrisy of ethics at that time. At the same time, it also praised the noble behavior of a few characters who can stick to themselves, be unyielding and poor.
Although this book is not included in the four classic novels, it is highly respected in literary circles at home and abroad. Even many domestic writers highly admire this book, which is regarded as the most classic satire in the history of China's classical literature. In addition, The Scholars has been translated into English, German, French, Russian and Japanese versions, and even many foreign literature lovers have written research monographs for it. This book was screened from the beginning because it was satirical and critical and completely unsuitable for the national conditions at that time.
Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio has 49 1 short stories, which are basically legends about monsters. In Pu Songling's eyes, many people in real life are more terrible than those legendary monsters. He exposed the darkness of feudal rule and the decay of imperial examination system in the form of fairy tales. Through the charm of fox and human love, the author's envy of ideal love is expressed. However, there are too many stories about monsters, too strong feudal ideas and too pessimistic contents in the book, which were finally screened out.