What are the origins of China's novels?

The Origin of Novels and the Prosperity of Novels in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties There are two systems in China's ancient novels, namely, the classical Chinese novel system and the vernacular novel system. Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, only classical Chinese novels. At this time, novels can be collectively called note novels, which are short in length and describe anecdotes, anecdotes or their words in classical Chinese. It has begun to take shape in the narrative of the story and the characterization of the characters. The number of works is also considerable. But as far as the author's subjective intention is concerned, it is only written as a real thing, and there is no artistic fiction. They are not mature forms of China's novels. The mature form of China's classical novels is the legend of Tang Dynasty, and the mature form of vernacular novels is the story of Song and Yuan Dynasties. The word "novel" first appeared in Zhuangzi's essay "Foreign Things": "Decorative novels are far from county orders." Comparing "novel" with "greatness" refers to trivial remarks that have nothing to do with politics and religion. Later, although the meaning of novel as a literary genre was not exactly the same as that of "novel" in Zhuangzi, in ancient times, the literary genre of novel was always regarded as something not elegant. At this point, the two are still relatively close. Ban Gu in the Eastern Han Dynasty wrote Hanshu according to the Seven Laws? The History of Literature and Art lists novelists at the end of the top ten schools. This is the beginning of the novel being recorded by historians. There are only 4324 novels among philosophers, accounting for 1380, which is the largest number. Ban Gu according to "Seven Views? The Introduction says: "Novelists are mobile because they are officials. Street talk, hearsay also has. Confucius said:' Although the path is bound to be considerable, fear of mud is also a blessing for a gentleman.' However, it was also destroyed. What a little person knows can also make him forget. If one sentence is acceptable, it is also a discussion of a madman. This is the authoritative explanation and evaluation of the novel by historians and catalogers. He thinks that novels are gossip, which are collected and recorded by novelists and become a family statement. Although this is a small road, it still has some merits. Ban Gu clearly pointed out that novels originated from folklore, which is of great significance to understand the origin of China's novels. Tracing back to the origin of China's novels, there are the following aspects: First, myths and legends. Although the records of myths and legends in ancient literature are very brief, we can still see two important novel factors: plot and character. Myths and legends were first spread orally, and some were adopted into the official history and gradually solidified; Some of them continue to spread orally, continue to enrich and develop, differentiate some new gods and heroes, and add new storylines. These legends that continue to live in people's mouths, once recorded, become anecdotes with strong novel meaning. In this chain from myths and legends to novels, anecdotes are the key link. It can even be said that anecdotes are the direct source of China's novels, and anecdotes are the closest to novels or can be regarded as early novels, which are nothing more than biographies of Mu and Yan Danzi. The former has a detailed description of Zhou Muwang's world trip; Compared with the narration in Shan Hai Jing, the Queen Mother of the West reduced divinity and increased humanity. The latter wrote that Yan Taizi Dan sent Jing Ke to assassinate the king of Qin. Compared with the Warring States Policy and Historical Records, Historical Records not only adds more details, but also highlights the image of yan dan as an avenger. (Ming) Hu Yinglin called this book "the ancestor of miscellaneous biographies of ancient and modern novels" (Four Corrections). Followed by fables. For example, there are many fables with distinctive characters in Mencius, Zhuangzi, Han Feizi and Warring States Policy, which are of novel significance. In Han Feizi, the stories of hiding inside, hiding outside and forest with the most fables all clearly use the word "Shuo" as the title, which also reveals the relationship between them. Obviously, fables can be regarded as one of the sources of novels. The third is historical biography. Such as Zuo Zhuan, Warring States Policy, Historical Records and History of the Three Kingdoms, describe the characters' personalities and plots, or provide materials for novels, or accumulate narrative experience for novels. Most of the legendary novels in the Tang Dynasty appear in the form of biographies. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms directly shows that it is a historical biography, which proves that historical biography is a source of novels. In the traditional bibliography works, some books are either classified as novelists or miscellaneous biographies of history, which lacks strict distinction, which also shows the profound influence of historical biography on novels from one side. Hanshu? There are 15 novels recorded in Yiwenzhi, all of which are dead. In fact, the novels written by Han people are all works of Han people in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, such as Dong Fangshuo's "Ten Kingdoms of Nerves" and Ban Gu's "The Story of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty". There are many novels about Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, such as Laughing Forest by Han Danchun (Three Kingdoms Wei), Natural History by Zhang Hua (Western Jin Dynasty), Searching for the Gods by Gan Bao (Eastern Jin Dynasty), Wandering and Stories from the World by Song Dynasty and Ghosts by Wang Yan (Northern Qi Dynasty).

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