What are China's four classical novels?

Four classic novels: A Dream of Red Mansions, The Journey to the West, Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

2. Introduction to A Dream of Red Mansions:

China is the first classical Four Great Classical Novels, a novel written by Cao Xueqin, a writer in Qing Dynasty. In the early days, only the first 80 manuscripts were circulated, and some of them were not completed after 80, and the manuscripts were lost. Formerly known as "Re-evaluation of Stone Story by Zhi Yanzhai". Cheng Weiyuan invited Gao E to coordinate the publication of the first book 120, and named it A Dream of Red Mansions. There is also a version of "Jinyuyuan".

A Dream of Red Mansions is an earthly novel with world influence. It is recognized as the pinnacle of China's classical novels, an encyclopedia of feudal society in China and a master of traditional culture. The novel takes the rise and fall of Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue as the background, focuses on Jia's family affairs and leisure, and focuses on the love and marriage stories of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai. It describes the beauty of humanity and tragedy of lovers of good and evil centered on Jia Baoyu and twelve women in Jinling, praises the rebels who pursue light, foresees the inevitable demise of feudal society through the tragic fate of rebels, and reveals the crisis of feudal eschatology.

The author of A Dream of Red Mansions has a preliminary democratic thought. He profoundly criticized the real society, including the darkness of the court and officialdom, the decay of feudal nobles and their families, the feudal imperial examination system, the marriage system, the handmaiden system and the hierarchical system, and the corresponding social ruling thoughts, namely, Confucianism and social morality of Confucius and Mencius, and put forward vague ideals and propositions with preliminary democratic nature. These ideals and concepts are the tortuous reflection of the budding factors of the growing capitalist economy at that time.

A Dream of Red Mansions encourages itself by "talking about love with great ambition and keeping a record of events", only follows its logic, gets rid of old habits, is fresh and unique, and has achieved extraordinary artistic achievements. In particular, the special brushwork of "the truth is hidden and the false words are hidden" has aroused the strong curiosity and prying desire of later readers, and all kinds of guesses are becoming more and more bizarre.

3. Introduction to Journey to the West:

It is one of the classical Four Great Classical Novels in China, and the first romance novel written by Wu Cheng'en in the ancient Ming Dynasty in China. This paper mainly tells the story of four disciples, the Monkey King, Pig Bajie, Friar Sand and Bai, who protected the Tang Priest to learn Buddhist scriptures in the West. They went through eighty-one difficulties along the way, subdued demons, saved the day, and finally arrived in the West to learn Buddhist scriptures. According to Tang Sanzang's Buddhist scriptures and Han folklore.

Since The Journey to the West came out, it has been widely circulated among the people, and various versions have emerged one after another. There are six versions in Ming Dynasty, seven versions and manuscripts in Qing Dynasty, and thirteen translations recorded in ancient books. After the Opium War, a large number of China classical literary works were translated into western languages and gradually spread to Europe and America. There are already English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Spanish (Esperanto), Sri Lankan (Swahili), Russia, Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. Many research papers and monographs published at home and abroad show that many people speak highly of this novel.

4. Introduction to Water Margin:

It is one of China's four classical novels. The book describes the story of the hero 108 led by Song Jiang who was called up in the Liangshan Uprising at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty and after Juyi.

The Water Margin is also one of the most epic works in China literature. This is one of the earliest Zhang Hui novels written in vernacular Chinese in the history of China. There are many versions, which are widely circulated and widely known, and have a far-reaching influence on narrative literature in China and even East Asia.

The Water Margin is a novel with the theme of describing the ancient peasant uprising. It vividly depicts the whole process of peasant uprising from its occurrence, development to failure, profoundly reveals the social roots of the uprising, enthusiastically praises the resistance struggle and social ideal of the uprising heroes, and specifically reveals the internal historical reasons for the failure of the uprising.

5. Introduction to Romance of the Three Kingdoms:

It is China's first full-length historical romance novel, which mainly describes the war in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and reflects the political and military struggle between Wei, Shu and Wu Sanda political groups. It can be divided into five parts: the Yellow Scarf Uprising, the Dong Zhuo Uprising, the Three Kingdoms' hegemony and the Three Kingdoms' return to Jin. On a broad background, a magnificent war scene was staged. Between the lines, Luo Guanzhong combined the thirty-six strategies of Sun Tzu's Art of War, including both the plot and the strategy of Sun Tzu's Art of War. This book reflects rich historical content. The names of people, place names, major events and people are basically the same as those in the History of the Three Kingdoms. It is based on a fixed image and played again. This is also the routine of historical romance novels. On the one hand, this book reflects the real history of the Three Kingdoms and caters to the readers' needs to understand the real history; On the other hand, according to the actual situation of Ming society, the figures of the Three Kingdoms were exaggerated, beautified and vilified.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of the classical Four Great Classical Novels in China, and its full name is Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The writer is Luo Guanzhong, a novelist in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. He is China's first historical novel. This paper describes the historical situation from the late Eastern Han Dynasty to the early Western Jin Dynasty 105. The book reflects the political and military struggle and the transformation of various social contradictions during the Three Kingdoms period, summarizes the historical changes of this era, and shapes a group of heroes of the Three Kingdoms, so that modern people can feel the characteristics of heroes of the Three Kingdoms.