1, Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the full name of which is Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, is one of the four classical novels in China and the first chapter-by-chapter historical novel in China. The writer is Luo Guanzhong, a novelist in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty.
There are several versions of the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, such as Jiajing Renwu Edition. By the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Mao Zonggang had rearranged the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, revised the wording and changed the poems.
2. Water Margin
The Water Margin is one of China's four classical novels. It is a chapter-by-chapter novel with the Sung River Uprising as the main story background at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, and it belongs to a heroic legend in genre. The author or editor is generally regarded as Shi Naian, and most of the existing periodicals have one or two people, Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong.
The book artistically reflects the whole process of Sung River Uprising in China history from its occurrence, development to failure by describing the heroic stories of Liangshan resisting oppression, Liangshan in Shui Bo growing up and being supported by the Song Dynasty, and fighting for the Song Dynasty after being supported by the Song Dynasty and finally dying.
It profoundly revealed the social roots of the uprising, enthusiastically praised the uprising heroes' resistance struggle and their social ideals, and specifically revealed the internal historical reasons for the failure of the uprising.
3. Journey to the West
The Journey to the West is the first romantic novel with chapters and sections in ancient China. There are hundreds of The Journey to the West published in Ming Dynasty, and there is no author's signature. Wu et al., a scholar in Qing Dynasty, first proposed that The Journey to the West was written by Wu Cheng'en in Ming Dynasty.
This novel is based on the historical event of "Tang priest learning from the scriptures" and deeply depicts the social reality at that time through the author's artistic processing. The book mainly describes the story that the Monkey King was born, met Tang Priest, Pig Bajie, Friar Sand and Bai Hou, went west to learn Buddhist scriptures, and after 81 difficulties, he finally arrived in the Western Heaven to visit the Tathagata, and finally the five saints realized their dreams.
4. A Dream of Red Mansions
A Dream of Red Mansions is a novel with the style of chapters and chapters in ancient China, also known as The Story of the Stone. It is listed as the first of the four classical novels in China, and is generally believed to be written by Cao Xueqin, a writer in the Qing Dynasty.
Based on the rise and fall of Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue, the novel depicts the life of a group of beautiful women in the boudoir from the perspective of Jia Baoyu, a rich son, and shows the true beauty of human nature and tragedy. It can be said that it is an epic work that shows the beauty of women and various social conditions in ancient China from all angles.
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These four masterpieces are inseparable in the history of China literature, and they all have high literary level and artistic achievements. The detailed description and profound thoughts contained in it have been praised by readers of all ages, and the stories, scenes and characters in it have deeply influenced the concepts and values of China people. It can be described as four monuments in the history of China literature.
"Four classic novels" is a conventional saying, because no one has publicly put forward this concept. Generally, The Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Journey to the West and A Dream of Red Mansions are called "Four Classical Novels".