Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, full name of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, by Luo Guanzhong. English name: The Legend of Three States, one of China's four classical novels, is a classic of historical romance novels.

Title: Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Also known as: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Author: (Ming) Luo Guanzhong's original works, (Qing) Maureen/Mao Zonggang's comments.

Category: history, novels

Publication date: The editions are complicated, mainly including Ming Jiajing Renwu edition ("Robben") and Qing Kangxi Mao Zonggang edition ("Mao edition").

Chapter 120

Writing Time: Late Yuan Dynasty and Early Ming Dynasty

Literary Status: China's First Chapter-by-Chapter Historical Novel

World influence: translated into more than 60 languages by Asian, European and American countries.

Masterpieces: Journey to the West, Dream of Red Mansions, Water Margin.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is China's first historical romance novel, which mainly describes the war and reflects the political and military struggle among the three political groups of Wu, Shu and Wei. It can be roughly divided into five parts: the Yellow Scarf Uprising, the Dong Zhuo Uprising, the competing among the heroes, the tripartite confrontation among the three countries, and the return of the three countries to Jin. On a broad background, a series of ups and downs and magnificent war scenes were staged, and more than 1000 characters were successfully portrayed. Among them, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Quan, Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, [1] and so on were household names, and they did not treat the historical descriptions of all parties in the way of friend or foe, which had a far-reaching impact on future generations. Editor Luo Guanzhong combined thirty-six strategies of Sun Tzu's Art of War between the lines, including both the plot and the strategy of Sun Tzu's Art of War. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms embodies rich historical contents, and the names, places and major events are basically the same as those in the History of the Three Kingdoms. Personality is also based on the fixed image left by the History of the Three Kingdoms, and then play it again, exaggerating, beautifying, spoofing, uglifying and so on. In fact, this is the routine of historical romance novels. Historical romance novels are all based on reality and reality, and they pass through spoof; Taking into account the past and the present, satirizing the past and saying today; A story, a story about two dynasties, a character, has the characteristics of two dynasties. Romance of the Three Kingdoms gives full play to this artistic method. On the one hand, it reflects the true history of the Three Kingdoms as much as possible, and takes care of the needs of readers to understand the true history. On the other hand, there must be people who are similar to the characters in the Three Kingdoms in the Ming Dynasty, so try to conform to the actual situation in the Ming Dynasty. According to the actual situation of the Ming Dynasty, they exaggerated, beautified, spoofed and vilified the figures of the Three Kingdoms to some extent, giving readers some inspiration or guidance, and taking care of the needs of readers who want to increase their knowledge and rulers who want to consolidate their rule. From the creative routines of historical romance novels, we can know that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms not only reflects the true face of the history of the Three Kingdoms, but also reflects many social contents of the Ming Dynasty.

The Three Kingdoms period is a completely different era from the Ming Dynasty. There were no brothels and casinos in the Three Kingdoms period. Both officials and people pursue Confucian culture, advocating benevolence, righteousness, Taoism, morality, courtesy, faithfulness, loyalty, filial piety, sincerity, truth, goodness and beauty. This is a very simple and typical China culture. In Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, there were many brothels and casinos. Although Confucian culture is the official culture, Buddhist culture has great influence in the hearts of rulers and in all social strata. Foreign folk customs such as brothels and casinos have developed for a long time. What people actually pursue is a market culture with both Chinese and western cultural characteristics, such as arrogance, luxury, obscenity, falsehood, ugliness, evil, crime and seizure of power. The romantic style of Indian society and Buddhist literature also developed for a long time in the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Romantic literature such as legendary novels and historical novels has been greatly developed, and officialdom and battlefield have also become playgrounds. Romanticism is popular, and Yue Fei's unwarranted charges are typical. Compared with the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the Three Kingdoms period has great differences in ruling ideology, official atmosphere, social ecology and social conditions, and there is a strong contrast between ancient and modern times. It can give full play to the artistic features of historical romance novels, make the words more humorous, and make the characters more artistic and knowledgeable. The Three Kingdoms period is most suitable for historical romance novels, so The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the first historical romance novel assembled into a book. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the first historical novel, and it is a model of teaching history and reappearing historical facts. Since then, scholars have followed suit. Most of China's thousands of years of history have been written in various ways to reproduce historical romance novels, but its achievements have not surpassed the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Brief introduction of the author

Luo Guanzhong, a novelist in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, was born in (about1330-about 1400). His name is Ben, from Taiyuan, Shanxi.

Qixian county, province; One said Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang) or Luling (now Ji 'an, Jiangxi) people. A famous novelist and dramatist at the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, China was the originator of Zhang Hui's novels. Luo Guanzhong's life is rich in works, the main works are: the script Zhao Taizu's Dragon and Tiger Club, the serial exhortation of loyalty and filial piety, and Zhang Sanping's crying; The novels Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties, Romance of Tang and Five Dynasties, Biography of Three Sui Dynasties in Pingyao, Dressing Room and Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties are said to be co-authored with Shi Naian's representative works, The Water Margin and Romance of Three Kingdoms. Luo Guanzhong was born in the feudal dynasty in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. As a drama critic associated with "advocating Excellence" and "prostitute art", he was regarded as an inferior person in Goulan Washe at that time, and it was impossible for the official history to write classics for him. The only thing I can see is a pamphlet "The Sequel to Ghost Records" compiled by Chao Jia, which reads: "Luo Guanzhong, a native of Taiyuan, is scattered in the lake and sea. Loneliness with others, Yuefu argot, extremely fresh. I forgot to be friends with Yu, and I suffered many losses, and I lived far apart. This is just the beginning of the resumed meeting. I haven't come for more than 60 years, but I don't know where it will end. "However, judging from Luo Guanzhong's masterpiece Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the depth of Luo Guanzhong's talent is reflected. He is proficient in military science, psychology, resourcefulness, public relations and talents ... Without superhuman wisdom, rich practice and persistent pursuit, how could he become such a generalist? He advocates national unity, loves the nation, carries forward the traditional virtues of the nation, and hates treachery and evil. In the Historical Romance of the Tang and Five Dynasties, we can see Luo Guanzhong's noble sentiments such as attachment to his homeland, memory of heroes, and care for the country and people. He is one of the few great writers in China14th century.

Writing process

Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Ming Dynasty)

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is very popular among ancient people in China. Song and Yuan dynasties came to the stage, and Jin and Yuan dynasties performed more than 30 kinds of Three Kingdoms operas. In the Yuan Dynasty, the Pinghua of the Three Kingdoms in the Township published by Yu's family in Xin 'an came out. At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Luo Guanzhong synthesized folklore, drama and scripts, combined with historical materials such as the History of the Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou and Pei Songzhi's notes, and based on his personal understanding of social life, he created the well-known Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The earliest existing edition was published in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, commonly known as "Jiajing Edition", with a total of 24 volumes. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, Mao Lun and Mao Zonggang and his son collated historical events, added or deleted words and added notes, and revised them into the current 120 Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Version change route:

(1) The earliest existing publication is the 24-volume popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which was engraved in the Ming Jiajing Renwu Year Book, with the first seven words and one sentence in each book.

(2) Wanli New Magazine criticized the History of the Three Kingdoms in all directions, with 20 volumes and 240 articles.

③ During the Wanli period, 240 volumes of Wu Guanming's Criticism of the Three Kingdoms by Mr. Li Zhuowu were merged into 120 volumes, and the reply was changed from a single sentence to an even sentence.

(4) During the reign of Emperor Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, based on Li Zhuowu's comments and referring to the Biography of the Three Kingdoms, Mao Lun and Mao Zonggang made great changes in the title and text, and made detailed comments. The Mao version of the History of the Three Kingdoms was later called The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Characteristics of works

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms describes the history of nearly a hundred years from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the beginning of the Western Jin Dynasty, reflecting the political and military struggles and the infiltration and transformation of various social contradictions during the Three Kingdoms period. In the attitude towards the Three Kingdoms, it is the mainstream tendency of the people to respect Liu and oppose Cao, but it also shows an obvious tendency to support Liu and oppose Cao. Taking Liu Bei Group as the center of description implies people's hope for the rejuvenation of the Han nationality and the orthodoxy of imperial power, although these old views are no longer suitable today. When Shi Mao and his son collated The Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the Qing Dynasty, they deleted the irony and Machamp's confusion in the version handed down from the Ming Dynasty. Lu Xun said in "Historical Changes of China's Novels": "Because things in the Three Kingdoms are not as chaotic as in the Five Dynasties; Not as simple as Chu Han; It is not simple or complicated, and it is suitable for writing novels. Moreover, the heroes of the Three Kingdoms era are very touching, so people like to use them as the base of novels. " The book also depicts nearly 200 characters, among which Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao, Guan Yu, Liu Bei and others are the most successful. Zhuge Liang is the incarnation of the "saint" in the author's mind. He has the lofty spirit of "devoting all his efforts to death" and the ambition to help the people and rebuild a peaceful and prosperous world. The author has endowed him with the peculiar ability to give orders and calculate skillfully. Cao Cao was portrayed as a traitor who "would rather teach me to be negative to the world than to teach the world to be negative to me". He is a political careerist and schemer, both clever and treacherous. Guan Yu is "brave and resolute" and "righteous as Mount Tai", but it is mainly based on personal grievances. Liu Bei was molded into a kind-hearted and caring person, a corporal with courtesy, righteousness and shame, and a typical benevolent gentleman who knows how to be kind and do his duty. In the war, there are various methods, and readers will often feel the bloody war scenes. Among them, the description of the Battle of Guandu and Battle of Red Cliffs is considered to be ups and downs, ups and downs, which makes people soul-stirring, and describes the plot that is not in the history books in great detail. However, in the first 33 chapters, it was 24 years from Taoyuan to Cao Cao's unification of the north, and in chapter 7 1, it was 27 years from Liu Bei's visit to the cottage to Zhuge Liang's death in Wuzhangyuan. In the next 46 years, it only took 15 and a half chapters to end. Due to the spread and influence of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms among the people, it is unique in China's ancient historical novels, which makes ordinary people, even some experts and scholars, lack correct common sense about the general situation, events and characters of the historical period described in the novel from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period. To some extent, the content of the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms has occupied a real historical position in the minds of Chinese people. This phenomenon has recently occurred. People have been arguing about this phenomenon. Extraordinary narrative ability, panoramic war description, artistic typical characterization and simple classical Chinese constitute the main features of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Character statistics

In the teaching and research of The Romance of Three Kingdoms, there is a habitual mistake: saying that the Romance "has written more than 400 words". Most of the authoritative literature history and novel history published since the founding of the People's Republic of China are described in this way; Until recently, some literary history, novel history and dictionaries still followed this theory. Sending the wrong message is inseparable. The so-called "Romance of the Three Kingdoms has written more than 400 words" actually originated from the History of the Three Kingdoms, the first of Jiajing's popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms. But it contains a series of mistakes:

First, there are 508 people listed in the History of the Three Kingdoms. Scholars in the past did not make careful statistics, but only estimated, so the theory of "more than 400 people" was not accurate even for the history of the Three Kingdoms.

Second, and more importantly, The History of the Three Kingdoms was copied from Chen Shou's Catalogue of the History of the Three Kingdoms (including official history, biographies and attached biographies), and some of its characters, such as Chen Zuo and Chang Bo of Shu Han, Yuan Huan, Liang Mao, He Kui and Xing of Cao Wei.

Third, and equally important, many characters in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms are not listed in The History of the Three Kingdoms, such as Chen Shi, Deng Liang, Fan Jian, Guan Fei, Gao Xiang and Hu Ji in Shu, Chen Tai, Deng Dun, Ding Fei, Dong Xun, Zhao Hao, Jia Huan, Jiang Gan and Soochow in Cao Wei. As for many fictional characters in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is certainly impossible to be included in The History of the Three Kingdoms.

It can be seen that the so-called "Romance of the Three Kingdoms has written more than 400 words" is the product of carelessness and is completely wrong. So, how many characters did The Romance of the Three Kingdoms write? In the Dictionary of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (published by Bashu Bookstore), there are 1258 entries in the characters section. Exclude 28 cross references (such as "A Dou", "Hou Zhu" and "Qian Zhu"). ), in fact, there are 1230 words written about romance. Most of these characters have famous surnames, totaling about 1000 people; Very few people without names also have clear kinship with other characters. Therefore, the correct statement is: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms wrote 1798 people, including about 1200 people with a famous surname. It is indeed a masterpiece with the most characters in ancient novels. In The Romance of The Three Kingdoms, there are * * *11people with surnames, including 436 military commanders, 45 civil servants, 45 1 people, descendants of the royal family, queens and eunuchs in the Han and Sanjin Dynasties 128 people, and others/kloc-. Some critics believe that the artistic deficiency of this work lies in the lack of development and change of characters, and some characters are exaggerated, which leads to distortion.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is not only an earlier historical novel, but also represents the highest achievement of ancient historical novels. The novel uses simple classical Chinese, which is vivid, fluent, elegant and popular; Brush strokes are full of changes, contrasts, redundancies, twists and turns, and swaying. The structure is magnificent, and the events of about a hundred years and many characters with complicated clues are organized completely and closely, and the narrative is orderly, echoing, interrelated, interlocking and advancing layer by layer.

The artistic achievement of The Romance of Three Kingdoms is more important in the description of war and characterization. Novels are best at describing wars and can write the characteristics of each war. Pay attention to describing the application of different strategies and tactics under specific conditions, and guide the subjective initiative of combat, instead of spending the main pen and ink on the simple strength and martial arts contest. For example, the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Battle of Red Cliffs and the Battle of Yiling. The writing of each war also changes with the characteristics of the war. While writing about the war, other activities are also written as the prelude, aftermath or auxiliary means of the war, which makes the tense and thrilling war seem relaxed and slow. Such as the cooperation between Battle of Red Cliffs's former grandson and Liu, the contradiction between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, the temptation of Cao Cao, and the in-depth preparation of Sun Liu's allied forces to lure the enemy. In the aspect of characterization, the novel pays special attention to putting the characters in the sharp contradiction of real struggle and expressing their ideological character through their words and deeds or the surrounding environment. Such as Cao Cao's treachery, every move seems to hide intrigue; Zhang Fei is outspoken, with naive and reckless colors everywhere; Zhuge Liang has a well-thought-out plan, and he is always comfortable and leisurely in the face of things. The famous Guan Yu's Wen Jiu Chops Hua Xiong, Zhang Fei's Wei Zhen Tian Chang Ban Bridge, Zhao Yun's Riding Alone to Save the Young Master, and Zhuge Liang's Seven Rescue Meng Huo are even more widely circulated chapters.

Although The Romance of the Three Kingdoms takes history as its theme, it is not a history book after all, but a literary work. Because of artistic processing, there are many fictions.

The artistic achievements of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms are manifold:

1. It successfully created many characters. There are 1798 people in the book, among which the main characters are typical artists with distinctive personalities and vivid images. All kinds of roles have their own * * *; People of the same kind have their own personalities. When describing the characters, the author is good at grasping the basic characteristics, highlighting one aspect, exaggerating, and using the methods of comparison and contrast to make the characters vivid and vivid. This is a basic principle of the author's characterization. The best explanation for applying this principle in novels is what people have always called "three unique skills", that is, Cao Cao's "technique of treacherous men"-treacherous men; Guan Yu's "absolute righteousness"-"righteousness is as heavy as a mountain"; Kong Ming's "unique wisdom"-extraordinary wit. The methods of portraying characters in novels mainly include: putting characters in thrilling military and political struggles and shaping them in sharp and complicated contradictions and conflicts. For the main characters, their complex personalities are often expressed through a series of storylines and characters' language.

2. It is good at describing war. This book * * * has written more than forty wars, showing thrilling war scenes. Among them, the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Battle of Red Cliffs and the Battle of Yiling are the most prominent. For several key battles that determine the rise and fall of the Three Kingdoms, the author always focuses on describing and writing all aspects of the war, such as the strategies and tactics of both sides, the comparison of forces, and the transformation of status. , colorful, ever-changing, unique, fully embodies the complexity and diversity of war; It not only writes about the fierceness, tension and adventure of the war, but also does not seem miserable. Generally, they are in a high-spirited style, and some of them are calm, quiet and relaxed.

Its structure is magnificent and exquisite. The time is as long as a hundred years, with hundreds of characters, complicated events and complicated clues. Description should not only conform to the basic facts, but also pay attention to the coherence of artistic plots. So it is very difficult to arrange the structure. However, the author can write methodically and clearly, and each chapter can be independent, and the book is a complete artistic whole. This is mainly due to the author's grand and rigorous conception. He organized the story of the whole book with Shu Han as the center and the contradiction and struggle of the three countries as the main line, which was both tortuous and coherent. There is a master and a slave, and the master and the slave work closely together.

4. The language is concise and fluent. This language seems to be semi-written today, but it was close to the vernacular at that time; Writing novels in this language is a pioneering work, which is an obvious progress compared with the rough and mixed language of some novels in the past.

If you want to know more, you can read it in Baidu's Encyclopedia of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

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