Now Four Great Classical Novels is recognized as The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin, The Journey to the West and A Dream of Red Mansions. Others believe that Ulysses, Memories of Gone Years and Lolita are the three classic literary masterpieces of the 2th century.
Four Great Classical Novels is a precious cultural heritage shared by China and even all mankind, which has a far-reaching influence in the whole Chinese world. Mao Zedong once said, "Be a Zhong Mou, make friends like Luda, have confidence like Tang Priest, and study in Four Great Classical Novels." Studying China and Four Great Classical Novels is a sea of wisdom for browsing China's classical literature, and also a knowledge base for experiencing China's traditional humanities, society, ethics, history, geography, folk customs, 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
*** 12 times
Introduction of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: written according to Chen Shou's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, as well as Fan Ye's The History of the Later Han Dynasty, The Story of the Three Kingdoms in Yuan Dynasty and some folklore. At present, the Ming Jiajing edition is the earliest, which is divided into 24 volumes and 24 articles. In the early Qing Dynasty, Mao Zonggang made some modifications, which became the current 12 copies.
the romance of the three kingdoms begins with Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's three sworn relationships in Taoyuan, and ends with Wang Junping 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, the characters are profound, the plot is tortuous and the structure is grand.
At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, China's novel creation entered a new period, especially Zhang Hui-style novels entered a stage of perfection. China's first classical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which has the widest spread, the deepest influence, the highest achievement and the greatest boldness of vision, was born and became popular in the world through the pen of Luo Guanzhong, an outstanding novelist who lived in this historical period. He has made great and indelible achievements in the history of Chinese literature development. At the same time, it has added brilliant brilliance to the treasure house of world literature.
Luo Guanzhong (133-14), whose name was Hu Hai San Ren, was a popular novelist in Ming Dynasty. His native place is Taiyuan (present-day Shanxi) and Qiantang (present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang), so it is not certain. According to legend, Luo Guanzhong once served as 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 Biography of Sui and Tang Dynasties and dramas such as The Meeting of 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.
Water Margin
Also known as loyalty to the Water Margin
Author: (late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty) Shi Naian, Luo Guanzhong
Ming Gaoru's "Hundred Rivers Records" recorded what he saw, and the former was "the book of Qiantang Shi Naian, edited by Luo Guanzhong". Hu Yinglin's "Brush Collection in Shaoshi Mountain Room" is attributed to Shi Naian, while Wang Qi's "A General Examination of Continued Documents" is attributed to Luo Guanzhong.
Introduction to Water Margin: The author created it on the basis of The Legacy of Xuanhe and related scripts and stories. With the description of peasant wars as the main theme, the book created Liangshan heroes such as likui jy, Wu Song, Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen, and revealed the social contradictions at that time. The story is tortuous, the language is vivid, and the characters are distinctive, which has high artistic achievements.
water margin version: in the spread of water margin, there are many different books. What we see now are mainly 1 copies, 12 copies and 7 copies. After 1 times, there were plots such as "collecting Liao" and suppressing Fang La uprising; 12 copies added the plot of suppressing Tian Hu and Wang Qing. Later, Jin Shengtan deleted this book, and removed the wooing and later events, which was called 7 chapters (actually 71 chapters).
There is a family named Shi in Shijiaxiang, north of Huaixu Bridge, outside the city gate of Suzhou, which is a descendant of Shi Zhichang, one of the seventy-two disciples of Confucius. The father who spread this branch to Shi Naian is the 14th. In the second year of Yuan Chengzong Yuanzhen (AD 1296), a male was added to the family. An old scholar named the baby Yan Duan, which means that when the child grows up, he must be a well-behaved genius. This swaddling Yan Duan is Shi Naian, who later wrote the historic 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 attend. In this way, he read many books, such as The University, The Analects of Confucius, Poems and Rites. At the age of 13, I was able to answer questions in public and write beautifully. Once, an old neighbor died of illness, and Ji Xiucai, who taught private school in Xushuguan, was invited to write a eulogy. When Ji Xiucai failed to arrive in time, others suggested that Yanduan try. Nai-an's youthful spirit, wanting to show his talents, did not give in, and came over and waved his hand. Later, Ji Xiucai read this eulogy, which is both childish and brilliant, and praised it. Offered to take Shi Naian to study at Hushuguan without tuition. Later, he betrothed his daughter to Shi Naian. Shi Naian studied hard in Hushuguan. He not only familiarized himself with hundred schools of thought, but also browsed all kinds of books. At that time, The Legacy of Xuanhe in the Great Song Dynasty, which told stories such as "Classical outsmarted Yan Poxi", "Song Jiang killed" and "Yang Zhi sold knives", aroused Shi Naian's interest, and he often read in his spare time. I also danced knives and sticks with my friends and practiced martial arts. At that time, the city of Suzhou often rapped some scripts and zaju such as Stone Sun Li, Green-faced Beast, Flower Monk, Warrior, Yan Qing's Fish Fighting in Tongleyuan, likui jy's Negative Jing, etc. Shi Naian sometimes went to amuse himself and showed admiration for these "heroic heroes" and "lofty heroes".
The 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 legendary story of Tang Priest's Buddhist scriptures, related scripts and zaju (written by Yang Ne in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty). Seven times before the Journey to the West, the Monkey King was born, and there were stories about making a scene in Heaven. After that, he wrote the story of the Monkey King following the Tang Priest to learn from the West, exorcising demons and conquering difficulties along the way. The images of Tang Priest, the Monkey King, Pig Bajie and Friar Sand in the book are vivid, large in scale and complete in structure.
Wu Cheng'en (about 154-1582), whose name was Ruzhong, was born in Sheyang Mountain and was born in Huai 'an, Jiangsu. Wu Cheng'en didn't get a one-year-old tribute student until he was about 4 years old. He went to Beijing to wait for the allocation of official positions, but he was not selected. Because his mother was poor, he went to work as a county magistrate in Changxing. Eventually, he was falsely accused and "left home" two years later. In his later years, he made a living by selling essays and lived for nearly 8 years.
A Dream of Red Mansions
Original name: Stone Story
Author: (Qing) Cao Xueqin
A Dream of Red Mansions has 12 chapters, the first 8 of which were written by Cao Xueqin, and the last 4 were generally thought to be written by Gao E. Cao Zuo's Eighty Chapters were circulated in the form of manuscripts in the process of writing and revising. In the fifty years of Qianlong (1791), Cheng Weiyuan printed the first eighty chapters and the last forty chapters in movable type, and since then, one hundred and twenty chapters have become popular. But the words in the first eighty chapters have been changed.
Introduction to A Dream of Red Mansions: A Dream of Red Mansions was written in the Qing Dynasty in the middle of the 18th century. It is based on the love tragedy of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, and focuses on the whole process of Jia Jiarong's government and Ningguo's 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 and rigorous in structure, with high artistic achievements.
Cao Xueqin, a novelist in China in the Qing Dynasty, was born in 1715 and died in 1763. Its predecessor was the Han nationality, and later it was Manchu Zhengcao Xueqin's white flag coating (domestic slave). Cao Xueqin's great-grandfather Cao Xi, his grandfather Cao Yin, and his parents' Cao Qing and Cao Fu successively served as Jiangning weavers for more than 6 years, which was highly prized by Emperor Kangxi. Cao Xueqin grew up in splendor. In the early years of Yongzheng, because of the internal struggle of the feudal ruling class, the Cao family suffered many blows, Cao Fu was dismissed and imprisoned, his family property was confiscated, and his family moved back to Beijing. Since then, his family has been declining. This turning point made Cao Xueqin deeply feel the coldness of the world and more clearly understood the essence of the feudal social system. From then on, he lived in poverty. He was good at poetry and painting, and was good at writing. He devoted himself to writing and revising the novel A Dream of Red Mansions with perseverance. He read it for 1 years, added and deleted it five times, and wrote this literary masterpiece that pushed China's classical novel creation to the peak. A Dream of Red Mansions has become a great realistic work in China's classical novels with its rich content, tortuous plot, profound ideological understanding and exquisite artistic techniques. In the 27th year of Qianlong (1762), the youngest son died prematurely, and Cao Xueqin fell into excessive sadness and grief. On New Year's Eve of this year (February 1, 1764), he died of poverty and illness (there are two versions about the year of Cao Xueqin's death: 28th and 29th years of Qianlong), and the burial expenses were funded by friends.