Jin Shengtan was the first to rank popular novels. According to him, he intends to comment on Zhuangzi, Li Sao, Historical Records, Du Fu's Poems, The Water Margin and The West Chamber. During the reign of Kangxi in the late Qing Dynasty, Mao Zonggang and his son revised the History of the Three Kingdoms under the guise of Jin Shengtan, calling it the book of the first scholar-Romance of the Three Kingdoms (which can also explain some problems entrusted by them in the name of Jin Shengtan instead of earlier people). At that time, there was a saying that the "Four Musts of Ming Dynasty" was put forward as a commercial means of booksellers, and then the Red Chamber replaced Jin Pingmei as the "Four Musts of Ming and Qing Dynasties", and the four musts were finalized. "Four Classical Novels", as the modern expression of "Four Wonders", is naturally not too early. Therefore, the formulation of "Four Great Classical Novels" (the four fantastic books) must have appeared after the book A Dream of Red Mansions was written.

However, some people have verified that the statement of "Four Wonder Books" should have been established in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Li Yu once said in the preface to The Romance of the Three Kingdoms published in Zuitang: "Feng Menglong also has four wonderful books, namely The Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West and Jin Ping Mei. ..... "It can be seen that in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Feng Menglong had formulated the four wonderful books mentioned by Li Yucheng and published them as the" first wonderful book "in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so the reference to the" four wonderful books "has been quite fixed and popular. But in any case, the expression of "Four Wonder Books" is the original expression of "Four Classical Novels", which should be confirmed.

Now the four classic novels are recognized as: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, The Journey to the West and A Dream of Red Mansions. Others believe that Ulysses, Memories of Lost Years and Lolita are three classic literary works of the 20th century.

The four classic novels are valuable cultural heritages shared by China and even all mankind, which have far-reaching influence in the whole Chinese world. Mao Zedong once said: "Be a Zhong You, make a friend like Lu Da, have the confidence like Tang Priest, and learn from Four Great Classical Novels." Studying China and the four classical novels is a sea of wisdom to browse China's classical literature and a knowledge base to experience China's traditional humanities, society, ethics, history, geography, folklore, psychology and handling strategies.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Author: (Late Yuan Dynasty and Early Ming Dynasty) Luo Guanzhong

Full name: Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms

* * * one hundred and twenty times

Introduction of Romance of the Three Kingdoms: It is written according to Chen Shou's The History of the Three Kingdoms, Ye Fan's The History of the Later Han Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty's The Story of the Three Kingdoms and some folklore. At present, the earliest edition is Ming Jiajing edition, which is divided into 24 volumes and 240 articles. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Mao Zonggang made some revisions, and it became the current 120 edition.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms begins with Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in Taoyuan and ends with Wu. It describes the military and political struggles between Wei, Shu and Wu in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. The characters are simple, profound, tortuous and grand in structure.

At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, China's novels entered a new period, especially Zhang Hui's novels entered a perfect stage. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, China's first classical novel with the widest circulation, the deepest influence, the highest achievement and the greatest boldness of vision, was born and swept the world through the pen of Luo Guanzhong, an outstanding novelist who lived in this historical period. He has made great achievements in the history of China literature development. At the same time, it also adds brilliant brilliance to the treasure house of world literature.

Luo Guanzhong (1330- 1400) was a popular novelist in Ming dynasty. His native place is Taiyuan (now Shanxi) and Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang), so he is not sure. According to legend, Luo Guanzhong was a screen guest of Zhang Shicheng, a peasant uprising army at the end of Yuan Dynasty. In addition to the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he also wrote popular novels such as Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties and plays such as Meet the Dragon and Tiger of Zhao Taizu. In addition, quite a few people think that the last thirty chapters of Water Margin are also his works.

The Water Margin?

Also known as: Loyalty and Righteousness Water Margin

Authors: (late Yuan and early Ming) Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong.

Gao Ru recorded what he saw in "Hundred Rivers Record" in Ming Dynasty. The former was "Qiantang Shi Naian Book, edited by Luo Guanzhong". Hu Yinglin's Shao Shi Shan Fang Bi Ji was written by Shi Naian, and Wang Qi's Xushu Tongkao was written by Luo Guanzhong.

Introduction to Water Margin: The author created it on the basis of the legacy of Xuanhe and related scripts and stories. The main theme of the book is to describe the peasant war, and it created Liangshan heroes such as Lin and others, revealing the social contradictions at that time. The story is tortuous, the language is vivid, and the characters are vivid, which has high artistic achievements.

Water Margin Edition: In the spread of Water Margin, there are many different books. At present, there are mainly 100 copies, 120 copies and 70 copies. After "Zhao An", 100 had the plot of "receiving Liao" and suppressing Fang La uprising. 120 Huiben added the plot of suppressing tian hu and Wang Qing. Later, Jin Shengtan deleted the book, excluding courtship and later events, and called it 70 chapters (actually 7 1 chapter).

Outside the gate of Suzhou, there is a family named Shi in Shijiaxiang, North of Huaixu Bridge, which is a descendant of Shi Zhichang, one of the seventy-two disciples of Confucius. The father who spread this branch to Shi Naian was the14th generation. In the second year of Yuan Chengzong Yuan Zhen (AD 1296), another man was added to the family. An old scholar named the baby Yan Duan, which means that the child must be a clever genius when he grows up. The strict passage in this infant is Shi Naian, who later wrote the historical masterpiece Water Margin. When Shi Naian was seven years old, his family was poor and he couldn't go to school. But he is smart and eager to learn, often borrows books, asks his neighbors to teach him, and sometimes goes to the university to audit. In this way, he read many books, such as "The University", "The Analects of Confucius" and "Poetry Ceremony". /kloc-at the age of 0/3, he can answer questions in public and write beautifully. Once, an old neighbor died of illness. Please ask Ji Xiucai, who teaches in a private school in Xushuguan, to write a eulogy. Ji Xiucai failed to arrive in time, so others suggested Yan Duan try. Naian was in high spirits and wanted to show his talents. Without giving in, he came with a wave of his hand. Later, Ji Xiucai read this naive and brilliant eulogy and praised it greatly. Offered to take Shi Naian to Hushuguan for free study. Later, he betrothed his daughter to Shi Naian. Shi Naian studies hard at the Hushu Pavilion. He is not only familiar with the contention of a hundred schools of thought, but also browses various books. At that time, The Legacy of Xuanhe in the Great Song Dynasty told stories such as "Classical outsmarted Yan Poxi", "Sung River was killed" and "Yang Zhi sold knives", which aroused Shi Naian's interest. He often read after school. I also dance knives and sticks with friends and practice martial arts. At that time, Suzhou City often rap some scripts and zaju, such as Stalagmite Plum, Green-faced Beast, Flower Monk, Warrior, Fighting Fish in Tongleyuan by Yan Qing, and Negative Jing by jy. Shi Naian sometimes amuses himself and admires these "heroic heroes" and "lofty heroes".

[Literary Works] Journey to the West

Author: (Ming) Wu Cheng'en

* * * One hundred times

Introduction to Journey to the West: Journey to the West is based on the story of Tang Priest's scriptures, related scripts and zaju (written by Yang Ne at the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty). Seven times before the Journey to the West, the Monkey King was born, and there was a story about the Palace of Heaven. After that, he wrote the story of the Monkey King following the Tang Priest to learn Buddhist scriptures and exorcising demons and overcoming difficulties along the way. The Tang Priest, the Monkey King, Pig Bajie and Friar Sand in the book are vivid, large-scale and complete in structure.

Wu Cheng'en (about 1504—— about 1582) is a native of Huai 'an, Jiangsu. Wu Cheng'en didn't get a one-year-old tribute student until he was about 40 years old. He went to Beijing to wait for an official position, but he was not selected. Because his mother was poor, he went to Changxing as a county magistrate and was finally falsely accused. Two years later, he left home. In his later years, he made a living by selling prose and lived nearly 80 years old.

A Dream in Red Mansions

Original name: The Story of Stone

Author: (Qing) Cao Xueqin

A Dream of Red Mansions has * * * 120 chapters, the first 80 chapters are written by Cao Xueqin, and the last 40 chapters are generally considered to be written by Gao E. Cao Zuo's eighty chapters were circulated in the form of manuscripts in the process of writing and revision. In the fifty years of Qianlong (179 1), Cheng Weiyuan printed the first eighty chapters and the last forty chapters with movable type, which became popular from then on. But the words in the first eighty chapters have been changed.

A Dream of Red Mansions: A Dream of Red Mansions was written in the Qing Dynasty in the middle of18th century. Based on the love tragedy of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, it focuses on the whole process of Jia government and Ningguo government from prosperity to decline. The language of the works is beautiful and vivid, and he is good at portraying characters, and has created such distinctive characters as Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, Wang Xifeng, Xue Baochai and You Sanjie. This book is large in scale, rigorous in structure and high in artistic achievement.

Cao Xueqin, a novelist of Qing Dynasty in China, was born in 17 15 and died in 1763. Its predecessor was the Han nationality, and later it was the white flag coating (domestic slave) of the Manchu Alvin Xueqin. Cao Xueqin's great-grandfather Cao Xi, his grandfather Cao Yin, and his parents Cao Qing and Cao Fu worked as Jiangning weavers for more than 60 years, which was highly prized by Emperor Kangxi. Cao Xueqin grew up in splendor. In the early years of Yongzheng, due to the internal struggle of the feudal ruling class, the Cao family suffered many blows, was dismissed from office and imprisoned, and their family property was confiscated and returned to Beijing. Since then, his family has been going downhill. This turning point made Cao Xueqin deeply feel the coldness of the world and more clearly understand the essence of the feudal social system. Since then, he has lived a poor life. He is good at writing and devotes himself to the writing and revision of A Dream of Red Mansions. He read 10 years, added and deleted five times, and wrote this literary masterpiece that pushed China's classical novel creation to the peak. A Dream of Red Mansions, with its rich content, tortuous plot, profound ideological understanding and exquisite artistic techniques, has become a great realistic work in China's classical novels. In the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong (1762), the youngest son died prematurely, and Cao Xueqin was plunged into excessive sadness and grief. On New Year's Eve (1764 February 1), he died of poverty due to illness (there are two versions about the year of Cao Xueqin's death), and the burial expenses were funded by friends.

The Journey to the West's story outline