Information on Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the first full-length chapter book in ancient China, and is a classic of historical novels. The novel depicts the conflicts and struggles among the three political and military groups of Wei, Shu and Wu, led by Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan in the 3rd century AD. On a broad social and historical background, it shows the sharp, complex and highly characteristic political and military conflicts of that era, which had a profound influence on the later generations in terms of political and military strategies. With its vivid language, grandiose scenes, and distinctive personalities, the book portrays many immortal historical figures such as Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, and its outstanding literary achievements have made its influence in fact penetrate into all aspects of Chinese literature, art, and social life.

Before the appearance of the entire book Romance of the Three Kingdoms, all kinds of Chinese novels were generally short in length, and some of them even had only a few dozen words. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was China's first full-length novel, and it is important to note how Chinese novels developed from short to long. The original Song Dynasty storytelling culture prevailed, storytelling became a profession, storytellers like to take the story of ancient characters as the subject matter to play, and Chen Shou "Three Kingdoms" inside the many characters, events are numerous, it is the best material to play the story. Some bits and pieces of the Three Kingdoms stories were originally circulated in the folklore, together with the storytellers' long-term material, the contents became richer and richer, the characters became more and more full, and finally many independent stories were gradually combined into a long masterpiece. These isolated stories in the community after a long time of oral tradition, and finally get turned processing, collection into a book, China's first full-length novel, which is a remarkable collective creation. This is a remarkable collective creation, different in form from the novels written by a single author, and well worth our attention. This kind of novel, which originated from many hands, was later followed by Journey to the West, a novel of gods and demons, and Water Margin, another historical novel. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is believed to have been an inspiration for later novels. The origin of history-telling literature, the literary value of this masterpiece itself, and its influence on later generations are all worthy of in-depth discussion.

I. The ideological tendency of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: embracing Liu and opposing Cao

1. The manifestation of the ideology of embracing Liu and opposing Cao in the work;

2. The formation of the ideology of embracing Liu and opposing Cao: the four ideas were formed in the process of the long-term circulation of the book, which was inherited by Luo Guanzhong and melted into his work, and was strengthened by Mao Zonggang in the revision of the book;

3. The connotation of embracing Liu and opposing Cao: the ideals of virtuous and benevolent rule and the opposition to the rule of the people were reflected. ideals of virtue and benevolence and the will to oppose tyranny; it is a reflection of national thought; it is a reflection of orthodox thought.

2. The image of Liu Bei and Cao Cao.

1, Cao Cao: treachery, cruelty, hypocrisy; ambitious, visionary; - this is a complex image, Luo Guanzhong that is to write its short, but also write its long, without affecting his tendency.

2, Liu Bei: that is, the idealized image of the ruler, but at the same time there is a representative figure of the ruling class characteristic of the hypocrisy side.

3. War depiction.

Three battles: the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Red Cliffs, the Battle of Yiling

Similarities: both weak against strong, both used firepower, the end is the weak win.

Different characteristics: the characteristics of the two sides of the struggle are different, facing different situations, etc., so that it is written never the same.

Study content

I. The origin and flow of the literature of speaking history

Song dynasty speaking skills are very developed. Speaking of the performance place is not limited to the hook bar tiles, the general village wild temples also have performance. According to "Tokyo Dreaming Records", the famous entertainer Huo Sishu in Bianjing, the capital of Northern Song Dynasty, was famous for "talking about three points", which is the story of the Three Kingdoms, and Yin Changsui was famous for talking about the history of the Five Dynasties, and both of them were good at talking about the history.

Whether a speaker is an expert or not, he needs a script. At that time, there was a "book club" specializing in the preparation of speeches. The book club in order to write the story, can not help but have a deeper literary training and extensive historical knowledge. The speaker's manuscripts are constantly embellished, added and deleted, it is possible to evolve into longer and longer novels.

The Song dynasty Nai De Weng, "the city of the record - Tile House, all the play" recorded talking four:

Talking there are four: a novel, called the silver word, such as smoke and powder, the spirit of the strange, the saga. The first is the novel, which is called the silver character, such as smoke and powder, spirits and monsters, and legends. The second is the public case, which is all about swords and rods, and about making a fortune. The Iron Horseman, which is the story of the horsemen and the golden drums. Sutra, is to say the speech of the Buddha's book. Speaking of the invitation to participate, it is said that the guests and masters participate in Zen meditation and enlightenment and so on. Speaking of history, talking about the previous generation of books, history, literature and biography, the rise and fall of the war. The most afraid of novelists, cover novelists can be a generation of stories, a moment to mention broken.

The fourth of these is the "History Book, which talks about the history of the previous generation, the rise and fall of the war." The story of the Three Kingdoms belongs to this category.

The novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" can be said to be a direct or indirect collection of the Three Kingdoms stories circulated in the Tang and Song dynasties, especially the novelist's "story of a generation of stories" of the manuscript material, after countless additions and modifications to the work. Although the "Quanxiang Pingtian San Guo Zhi" mentioned below is a product of the Yuan Dynasty, its ancestor may have originated from the manuscripts of Song Dynasty speakers.

How did talking materials become talking novels? Probably speakers initially rely on word of mouth, not text, but word of mouth, easy to forget, the more decorated the story, the more complex the content, the more difficult to remember, the only way to use the written record, so as to avoid omissions when speaking. The only way to avoid omissions in the storytelling is to record it in writing. If the written record is constantly being organized, it will become larger and larger in length. Here there are two small problems worth thinking about: first, the initial draft may be relatively simple and rough, and the later finishing and updating of the book may be more complex and complicated, but the abridged version is the opposite; second, once the first draft of the banknote written and circulated, because of the interpretation by the different artists or writers to embellish each of them, the same story may later appear in a number of different versions. Here are one or two examples. Existing "to the rule of the new publication full phase of the plain language of the Three Kingdoms," three volumes, is the Yuan dynasty Yingzong to the rule of the year (1321 a 1323) Jian'an (in today's northern Fujian) Yu's publication, the capital of each volume is engraved with "to the rule of the new publication full phase of the plain language of the Three Kingdoms," generally referred to as the "Three Kingdoms plain language," the original name of the author has been anonymized, the scholarly community is considered to be the Yuan dynasty to tell history The original author's name has been lost, and the scholarly opinion is that it is the base text of the Yuan Dynasty's history-telling. This book is now hidden in the Cabinet Library in Tokyo, Japan, there are one hundred and thirty-eight pages, the top and bottom of each page, two columns, the left and right pages together, the top for a picture, the bottom for the text. Speakers with this book, look at the picture to read the words, can be foam at the mouth, randomly perfunctory. This is not necessarily the speaker's first draft, but it is an earlier version of the manuscript, which can be seen as simpler and rougher. Another example is the "Three points of the story", also entitled "Tales of the Three Kingdoms", above and below, in three volumes, not titled by the author, and also belonging to the Jian'an Shufang engraving. Although the first line of the first and middle volumes of the inscription "to the Yuan new issue of the whole phase of the three things on the", "to the Yuan new issue of the whole phase of the three things in the", but also the cover of the "jiawu new carving" four words, most of the academic community that Is not the Yuan Shizu to Yuan thirty-one years A Wu (1294) of the carving; is the bookseller trickery, is the Yuan to Zheng fourteen years or Yuan Ming Yi generation of the product of the period. Because the upper, middle and lower three volumes, each volume of the last page or two pages before the last page, are intentionally omitted from the engraving of two to three pages of the story, but the page number is connected without interruption, is obviously the bookseller cutting corners to deceive customers and do the trick. Abridged books are usually printed to save costs.

Lu Xun claimed that Song speakers were many masters, but not heard of any writings; most of the extant history-telling plainspeak is the work of Yuan people (1982, p. 127). Among them are the Zhiji Xinjian Quanxiang Pinghua San Guo Zhi and the Zhiyuan Xinjian Quanxiang Sanjian Sanjiao, both of which have the main plots of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and are its prototypes.

To summarize the content of this subsection: the origin of Chinese storytelling is very early, Song Dynasty storytellers especially like to tell history. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were already Huo Sanzhu who was famous for telling the Three Kingdoms. But bits and pieces of the story of the Three Kingdoms have been circulating for a long time, and have been recorded in the Tang Dynasty. The Song people devoted themselves to add decoration, and thus the content is richer and the plot is more exciting. Existing "the whole phase of the plain language of the three kingdoms" is the work of the yuan, should be the embryo of the "three kingdoms".

Second, the author of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the date and version of the book

This section of the "author, version and the date of the book" to provide information, which involves a lot of controversy, it is recommended that we do not memorize the material, to know the outline can be.

Author

During the long period of authoritarian imperial rule, Chinese novels and dramas were, strangely enough, neglected and discriminated against by the orthodox scribes, so that most of these works appeared in a veiled and surreptitious manner. Their authors were either pseudonymous or unnamed, and it is always a pity that it is so difficult to know their lives clearly. The authors of some of the great works we have chosen to teach in this course are all in a similar situation.

The author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is generally said to be Luo Guanzhong. Records about his place of origin and biography are very divergent, and the material is all very sketchy.

On Luo Guanzhong's place of origin, there are four main sayings: one is Taiyuan, the second is Hangzhou, the third is the East (Shandong Dongping), the fourth is Luling people. Over the decades, the former two say more, but so far inconclusive. Today, Liu Zhijian, Wang Liqi, Shen Bojun, Zhou Lengjia and other people hold the East said. From the available information, the eastern original theory is more credible.

-, Taiyuan said

Ming anonymous "Record Ghost Book" cloud: "Luo Guanzhong, Taiyuan, the number of lake and sea scattering. And people are not together. Lefu, cryptic extremely fresh."

Two, Hangzhou said

Ming Lang Ying "seven repair class draft" Volume 23 cloud: "Three Kingdoms", "Song Jiang" two books, is Hangzhou Luo Ben Guanzhong edited. I think the old will have this, so I said the editor."

Ming Tian Rucheng "West Lake Tourism Zhiyu" Volume 25 "Committee Lane Series" cloud: "Qiantang Luo Guanzhong Ben, the Southern Song Dynasty, compiled dozens of novels."

Ming Wang Qi "renewed literature" Volume 177 "scripture books - biography" class cloud: "Water Margin" Luo Guan. Guan word Benzhong, Hangzhou."

Three, Dongyuan (Dongping) said

Ming Yong Yu Zi (Jiang Daqi), "Three Kingdoms Zhi popular evolution - preface" cloud: "If the Dongyuan Luo Guanzhong, Pingyang Chen Shou biography, the examination of all the national history, from the first year of the Han Lingdi in the first year of Ping, finally the first year of the Jin Taikang, pay attention to the loss and gain, the eye said the "Three Kingdoms Zhi popular evolution," the text is not very deep, the word is not quite common, the matter of the record in fact, also The book is not very deep, the words are not very vulgar, the matter is actually recorded, but also almost a history."

Wang Liqi, "Luo Guanzhong and the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (1983, pp. 240-265), found Luo Ben and Gao Keruo in the thirty-one disciples listed in the first volume of Mr. Zhao Baofeng's Collected Works by Zhao Kai (Zi Yong, a native of Cixi) in the Yuan Dynasty, and believed that Luo Ben, Luo Guanzhong, was the most popular of all the disciples of the Three Kingdoms. This involves the author of "Water Margin", "Water Margin", the only good official is Chen Wenzhao, the governor of Dongping, why? The original cixi county order Chen Wenzhao to the euphonium Zhao Baofeng practice sutra please industry, line of discipleship, Baofeng to rule the people told. Therefore, the Qing people compiled the "Song and Yuan case" will be Chen Wenzhao also listed as Mr. Baofeng disciples, so it is not difficult to explain the "Water Margin" is the only good officer Chen Wenzhao mystery. Water Margin" author "Shi Nai'an write, Luo Guanzhong compilation and repair", Luo Guanzhong is clearly Luo Ben, Dongping is his parents state. The good official said Dongping Taishou, Wang Liqi that is "Luo Guanzhong carefully arranged.

Zhou Lengjia, "New Historical Materials on the Life of Luo Guanzhong" (Tan Luofei, ed., 1992, pp. 119-130), also looking for information from Mr. Zhao Baofeng's Collections and Song and Yuan Academic Courses, argued that Luo Guanzhong's original name was Ben, and that his character was Yanzhi, a native of Dongping. After the death of Yuan, Luo Guanzhong joined his elder brother Luo Gong (罗拱), who lived in Cixi, Zhejiang Province, and was a disciple of Mr. Zhao Baofeng (赵寶峰), a descendant of the Song royal family, and so he studied under Zhao Baofeng (赵寶峰). The name Guanzhong is probably an alias.

As for Luo Guanzhong's life, some think it is the Southern Song Dynasty. Some think it is the early Yuan Ming people, "Manuscript" that the early Yuan Ming people this statement is more reasonable, the reason is that the end of the Yuan Ming experience of turmoil and the writer's political aspirations on the creation of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has a substantial impact. The following are quoted from Zhou Zuan, Feng Qiyong, Zhang Peiheng, Zhou Lengjia and others:

-, Southern Song dynasty (Zhou Zuan)

Zhou Zuan's article, "The Book of Luo Guanzhong's 'Water Margin' and Wang Shifu's 'The Story of the Western Wing' as Seen by the Yuan People" (1985, pp. 76-82), argues that "Luo Guanzhong was probably a native of the Southern Song dynasty. Luo Guanzhong was probably a Southern Song or Song-Yuan person." This statement can be referred to the previous section of "the origin and flow of historical literature", we cited the opinion of the Zhou Estate.

Two, born around 1295 (Feng Qiyong and Zhang Peiheng)

Feng Qiyong, "On Luo Guanzhong's Era" (1991, pp. 80-93), argues that, since Luo Guanzhong was mentioned together with Ge Kejiu, and Ge was a Yuanist, Luo was of course a Yuanist as well. Extrapolating from the records of the Record of Ghosts Book Continuation, Luo Guanzhong was born around Yuan Zhenyuan (1295) and died around Ming Hongwu XII (1379), living to be about eighty-five years old.

Chang Peiheng, "On the life and death of Luo Guanzhong" (1982, No. 3, pp. 120-126), insisted on the book's present-day place names to verify the date of publication of a book, and by tracing the author's time of life, he believes that the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was written around 1329, when Luo Guanzhong was more than thirty years old.

Third, born in about 1330 (Lu Xun, Zhou Lenga)

Lu Xun's "History of the Three Kingdoms" (page 129) thinks that he was "between Yuan and Ming" (about 1330-1400)

Zhou Lenga's "Journal of Novels" (1981, No. 4, pp. 76-82) agrees with Lu Xun's view that the author's work was written around 1329, when Luo Guanzhong was more than thirty years old. Zhou Lengjia, "Novel Journal" (1981, No. 4, 76-82), agrees with Lu Xun that Luo Guanzhong "was a native of the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties" and was probably a native of Cixi.

Combined with the opinions of various schools of thought, it is roughly like this: Luo Guanzhong was a native of Dongping, formerly known as Luo Ben, the word Yanzhi, alias Guanzhong, and also known as Hukai Sanren. Around the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, once in Zhang Shicheng's office, and then lived in Cixi, Zhejiang Province, engaged in creative writing, died in the early Ming Dynasty. He wrote three kinds of dramas, including Song Taizu Longhu Fengyunhui, and six kinds of novels, including Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Little Qinwang Words, Sui and Tang Zhiyi, The Remnants of the Tang and Five Dynasties History, Sansui Pingdian, and Pink Makeup House. It is generally believed that the novel Water Margin also contains Luo Guanzhong's heart and soul.

Book Era

There are four main sayings about the book age of Romance of the Three Kingdoms: one is Song or before, the second is the middle of Yuan Dynasty, the third is the beginning of Ming Dynasty, and the fourth is the middle of Ming Dynasty. In any case, because it can not be denied Luo Guanzhong for the compiler of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, then the writing age can not jump out of Luo Guanzhong's life, the book must be combined with the age of Luo Guanzhong's life and death to see.

One, before the Song said

Zhou Chuen advocated that the Three Kingdoms was written before the Song or Northern Song Dynasty, and we have already quoted his statement (see the unit, p. 3)

Second, the middle of the Yuan Dynasty, said

Yuan Shishuo, "the Ming Jiacing publication of the Sanguozhi popular playbook is the original work of the Yuan Luo Guanzhong" (1991, pp. 94-108), argues that the book was written by Luo Guanzhong, and that it is the first time that Luo Guanzhong wrote a book on this topic. (1991, pp. 94-108) argues that the book's use of more than three hundred and thirty poems to characterize the characters and conclude the plot is very similar to the plain speech of the Song and Yuan dynasties. And when quoting or Tang Xian, or Song Xian, do not say "Yuan Xian", is really the tone of the Yuan people; the book mentioned in the small character note in the name of the present day, in addition to a few individual errors, almost all with the name of the Yuan Dynasty administrative district. Because of which Jiangling, Jiankang, Tanzhou are Yuan Tianli two years (1329) before the old place names, so the time of the note will be broken in this year, and then extend back more than a dozen years, basically can be sure that the book was written in the Yuan in the middle of the twentieth to forties of about the fourteenth century. He also believes that Luo Guanzhong's birth and death dates are about 1300 to 1370, and the Jiajing edition can be regarded as Luo Guanzhong's original work.

Three, the early Ming said

Ouyang Jian, "test of the" Three Kingdoms Zhi popular evolutionary "book age" (Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Literature, 1983, 280-295 pages) that the "Three Kingdoms" was written in the early Ming Dynasty. He disagreed with Yuan Shishuo's assertion that the book was dated before the second year of the Tianli era (1329), arguing that the situation of place names was complicated. He believes that Luo Guanzhong started writing the book in the early Ming Dynasty, and that the twelfth volume was written not earlier than the third year of Hongwu (1370), and the first draft of the whole book was completed after 1371. He also believes that according to the "disciples of Mr. Baofeng Wen" in order to rank the teeth, Luo was in the eighth Ushido (born in 1314) and the thirteenth Wang Huan (born in 1314), the birth year of about 1315 years to 1318 years, death is estimated to be in the 1385 years between 1388 years. Luo Ben Guanzhong was about fifty years old at the time of the opening of the book.

Fourth, the middle of the Ming said

Zhang Guoguang "" Three Kingdoms popular play "" written in the middle of the Ming discernment "(1983, 266-279 pages) that" Three Kingdoms popular play "" written on the basis of the" Three Kingdoms "" Pingyin "", and the Yuan published" Three Kingdoms "" Pingyin "" for the Xin'an Yu's to the rule of the year (1321-1323) published in the five" Pingyin one, the length of only one" Pingyin one of the five" Pingyin one of the five" Pingyin one of the five" Pingyin one of the five" Pingyin one of the five" Pingyin". Pingyin is one of the five kinds of texts published by Xin'an Yu during the reign of Emperor Yu (1321-1323), with a length of only 80,000 words, and a crude and simple writing style. Zhang Guoguang therefore believes that "the book was written, neither the Yuan Dynasty, it is difficult to be sure is the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, when in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. It is likely that Jiang Daqi, the mediocre fool who wrote the preface to this book, was its author." He estimated that because Jiang Daqi wrote the preface and then had no money to engrave the book, it took twenty years before it was printed by Xiu Bei Zi.

It is worth noting that Zhang Guoguang is set aside Luo Guanzhong as the author of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" to argue, so that there is no need to worry about whether the date of the book and Luo Guanzhong's life and death years. If we look at Luo Guanzhong's life, the second and third statements are closer to the truth. If the fourth statement is reasonable, then the middle of the Ming Dynasty is the time of the beginning of circulation.

Versions

-, Jiajing book

The existing Ming Jiajing nonwo (1522) publication. Twenty-four volumes, two hundred and forty items, each with a title of only seven characters. The book is signed "Jin Pingyang Hou Chen Shou historical biography, the later Luo Ben Guanzhong editorial". It should be noted that many scholars used to think that it is the closest version of Luo Guanzhong's original work, or even Luo's original work, but now there are many skeptics.

Second, the Zhi Zhuan this

There are several versions of the Ming Wanli years (1573-1620) published and engraved, referred to as the "Wanli books". To Liu Longtian Qiaoshan Hall publication, Yu's Shuangfeng Hall publication earlier. It is worth noting that the content is somewhat different from the Jiajing edition, and the text is more simple. Many scholars believe that "Zhizhuan this" ancestor earlier than Jiajing.

Three, Li commented on this

" Mr. Li Zhuo Wu criticism of the Three Kingdoms", after the Wanli, Tianqi Wuxi Ye painting fake Li Zhuo Wu's name pseudo-commentary published, so it is also known as "pseudo-Li commented on this". Each of the two items of the Jiajing book is combined into a one hundred and twenty-volume book, not divided into volumes. Existing Ming Jianyang Wu Guanming published several kinds of books. Mao Zonggang in the Qing Dynasty, according to the deletion of the revision of the Mao assessment of the book.

Four, Mao (Mao evaluation of the book)

"Mao Zonggang evaluation of the Three Kingdoms", the Qing dynasty Kangxi publication, 60 volumes of 120 times. Mao Lun, Mao Zonggang father and son under the name of Jin Shengxuan commented on the "pseudo-Li evaluation of the book", a comprehensive revision. Lu Xun said Mao's father and son mainly three work, one said change, two said increase, three said cut, the rest of the subsection is "a rectification of the back of the head, the second amendment to the rhetoric, the third cut off the praise, the fourth increase and delete trivia, the fifth change the poetry" only. It should be noted that, according to Lee Hsien Wu, the book is more than the previous version of the strengthening of feudal orthodoxy, and in the artistic processing of the previous version of the book is much more than.

The four versions of the system, summed up, in fact, only three kinds: one is the Jiajing book "Three Kingdoms Popular Romance" system, the second is the "Three Kingdoms Biography" system, the third is the system of the Mao commentary. As for the "Li Ping Ben" because it was revised by Mao Zonggang has been integrated into the Mao Ping Ben, and the Mao Ping Ben should belong to the same system. At present, most of the books printed in the bookstore are the system of Mao's Commentary, but in the proofreading will usually refer to some changes in the different texts of the Jiajing book.

Three, the formation of the story of the Three Kingdoms

Jin Chen Shou compiled "Three Kingdoms", Liu Song Pei Songzhi cited more than 400 kinds of books for the note. We know that the six dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, character assessment of the prevalent culture, character assessment must always be based on specific events; later, "Shishu Xinyao" more contained a lot of Wei and Jin period of the various characters of the wonderful people and wonderful things. The culture of character appraisal spread for a period of time, and many people were very familiar with the words and deeds of the characters at that time. In the process of talking, on the one hand, the interest is strong and unabated, and between word of mouth adds the subjective opinion and personal color of the speaker, the description of the characters and events portrayed more and more wonderful phenomenon.

For example, it is said that there are more than 30 kinds of literature in the North and South Dynasties of the two Jin dynasties that recount, describe and sing the stories and characters of the Three Kingdoms. This is in terms of existing literature, but the actual number must be more than that.

There are more than one hundred and forty poems on the Three Kingdoms in the Tang Dynasty, and about eighty in the Song Dynasty. These are all materials known today, and there must have been many more that appeared at the time but were lost.

In addition to the poems of the Yuan Dynasty, there were more than 60 Yuan miscellaneous dramas with stories of the Three Kingdoms in the theater. This is more noteworthy, one is the story of the three kingdoms at that time, individual fragments have been developed to maturity, in order to be compiled for the play, the second is the play than the poems circulated more widely, the impact is greater, and the development of novels and changes in the cause and effect of each other. And since the Song said three circulated, at this time to become a novel in plain language "Three Kingdoms Zhi Plain Language" and "three things", more become the basis of the Three Kingdoms novel.

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a long novel, but the original story exists in bits and pieces. How these sporadic materials were eventually organized into a full-length novel is an interesting process. This process can be said to be years and months. Because it is not the main history at all - if it is the same as the main history, then after the completion of the book of the Three Kingdoms, there is no need to compile what is the Three Kingdoms Romance. Of course, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" material, both directly from the "Three Kingdoms", but also indirectly from the "Three Kingdoms" of the note and other historical material of the Six Dynasties literature, and more is the later generations have been full of (proverbial "add material") story material. Especially in the Yuan Dynasty theater works, the Three Kingdoms story has been linked into a flesh and blood life. Summarize the formation of the Three Kingdoms story, can be divided into the following four stages:

The first stage is Chen Shou "Three Kingdoms Zhi" before the book records, most of them are historical materials, including the historical figures of the origin, words and deeds, and other records and legends. Chen Shou's "Records of the Three Kingdoms" recorded some of them as materials for compiling the official history, but more materials were left behind in the writings of literati or folklore.

The second stage is the early period after the completion of the Three Kingdoms, especially in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, because the Three Kingdoms are not far away, there are still a lot of literature and folklore in vogue, but the content of the stories about inevitably began to appear to be added to or transformed.

The third stage is the Tang and Song eras of the literati's songs and storytellers' performances, the former can make the stories and legends towards the rational interest, the latter will make the sporadic stories combined into a longer unit.

The fourth stage is the Yuan drama works. Many playwrights in the Yuan Dynasty tried to write the stories of the Three Kingdoms into brilliantly plotted plays. Taking the story of Lu Bu and Diao Chan as an example, the existing scripts are Anonymous "Jin Yun Tang secretly set the chain plan", Zheng Guangzu "Hujingguan three battles Lu Bu", Wuhan Chen "Hujingguan three battles Lu Bu" (mutilated), Yu Bo Yuan "white between the decapitation of Lu Bu". In addition, Yuan Nan Opera has "Sable Cicada Women" (mutilated). It can be estimated that the Yuan playwrights contributed to the development of all the stories of the Three Kingdoms.

The fifth stage is Luo Guanzhong's book. "Three Kingdoms Zhi Popular Romance" book "according to the history", "pick novels", "proof of the rhetoric", "through the good Shang", is indeed the theory, especially the erudition of a variety of canonical books, including historical notes, notes, legends, plain language, plays, poems, etc., *** Metallurgy of a furnace, become a masterpiece. This actually brings together the efforts of millions of people; in Luo Guanzhong before, in the story of the text and plot to modify the processing of unknown authors, but also the same credit. Luo Guanzhong can be said to be the later a masterpiece.

Four, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" of the ideological content

Popular "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Mao commented on the book in front of the book there is a "read" Romance of the Three Kingdoms "method. This is an article that teaches people how to appreciate the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, including the content and the dissection of literary techniques. Not every point in it is correct, but it is very enlightening and must be read.

Thematic Idea

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a masterpiece based on the historical scope of Chen Shou's "Three Kingdoms", which recreates from a literary perspective the evolutionary process of the Yellow Turban Uprising from the end of the Han Dynasty to the unification of the Western Jin Dynasty in the last eighty to ninety years. Because historical events cannot be freely compiled and changed, but the details of them can be played out to the fullest extent, the author can incorporate his personal subjective elements into the preparation, and it becomes a literary work with a more pronounced ideological character. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms takes Shu Han as its orthodoxy and honors Liu and depreciates Cao everywhere, which is different from Chen Shou's Romance of the Three Kingdoms which takes Wei and Jin as its orthodoxy, and has always been regarded as the thematic idea of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Raising Liu and suppressing Cao is the main theme of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", especially the popular Mao commented that "emphasize orthodoxy" is the theme of the book, it should not be wrong. And the so-called division for a long time will be united, united for a long time will be divided concept, but also with the author of the Yuan Dynasty in the early Ming Dynasty, some of the relationship between the background.

V. Artistic Achievements of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"

One, depicting the war: two, shaping the characters; three, structural art; four, language features.

Describing War

The first point is the diversity of wars. The book describes hundreds of wars, which can be divided into land wars, water wars, or mixed land and water wars, for example, flooding seven armies; and can be divided into offensive wars, defensive wars; or divided into ambush wars, sneak attack wars; or divided into positional wars, guerrilla wars; or main generals competing with each other, or two armies mixing up, in a diversified form.

The second point is the combination of military action and political strategy. For example, Cao Cao's southern invasion is not without purpose, is to complete the unification of the cause, Liu Bei allied Wu against Cao is in order to have a foothold, and then revitalize Liu's Han dynasty foundation. Zhuge Liang's southern expedition was to settle disputes with the minority groups in the south and to stabilize the rear so that he could deal with the powerful Cao Wei with all his might.

The third point is that victory or defeat in war depends on intelligence. The key lies in the intelligence of the planner, whether he can adopt the good ideas of his subordinates, whether he can correctly judge the enemy situation, whether he can objectively distinguish between the loyal and the treacherous, and whether he can deal with things calmly. The victory or defeat of large and small wars is always related to the battle of wits and plans. The book gives many examples, and it is advisable to refer to the original book.

The fourth point, focusing on writing people, not focusing on writing the process of war. Absorbing the experience of Zuo Zhuan in describing the war and writing strategies in detail and writing the process of fighting in detail; writing those who have the upper hand in detail and writing those who are in the lower hand in detail; writing those who are going to win in detail and writing those who are going to lose in detail. Through a few encounters, the character is gradually shaped.

Characterization

Because Lu Xun in the "Historical Sketch" criticized the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" "to write about people, but also quite a loss, so as to show that Liu Bei's long and thick and seemingly pseudo, the shape of Zhuge's wisdom and nearly demonic; but in the Guan Yu, especially the good words, the concept of righteousness and courage, when such as to see carry on." In the past, the critics are influenced by, do not dare to overthrow its said, several conclusions. In fact, Lu Xun's view is biased, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in the characterization or the subjective intention of loyalty and treachery, but not black and white lopsided. Kong Ming is as good as God, but not always wrong, Cao Cao is a traitor, but not without merit. Guan Yu is loyal, righteous and courageous, yet he is proud and self-absorbed, ignoring the big picture, time and time again. For example, he wanted to compete with Ma Chao in martial arts; he abused Sun Quan and refused to join the marriage; he was ashamed to be ranked alongside Huang Zhong and was not given the seal of the Five Tiger Generals; and fourthly, he belittled Lu Xun, thus incurring defeat.

Structural Art

The story of the Three Kingdoms basically takes the rise and fall of Wei, Shu, and Wu as the vertical line, and the development of war and the activities of characters as the materials. The history of the rise and fall of more than 90 years can be divided into three main stages: from the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the Battle of Red Cliff as the first stage; the Three Kingdoms to the death of Zhu Geliang as the second stage: and thereafter to the Jin Dynasty to unify the world as the third stage. In between are interspersed the intricate disputes among Wei, Shu and Wu, bringing out the various wars of various sizes and the strange and dangerous plans of civil officials and military generals one by one, and finally forming a complete story. Because of the structure of the traditional chapter book, the rounds echo each other back and forth, following the main line of development, dispersed in the concentration, the beginning and end of a consistent, to form a unified system of fiction.

But, in dealing with the ninety-seven years of historical events, from the beginning to the death of Zhuge Liang **** fifty-one years with one hundred and four rounds, while the back of the forty-six years, the length of time in fact nearly half, but only sixteen back to summarize the evolution of history, the weight of the arrangement is obviously not average. Why is it, because the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" to Shu Han for the orthodoxy, the first fifty years is Shu Han from scratch, from weak to strong, and then can be associated with Wu Cao, three worlds of these glorious deeds naturally worthy of the book, but Zhuge Liang's death, the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse, Shu Han began to face the collapse of the time is running out, and thus the length of the book is greatly reduced. It can be seen that the author in the structure, dealing with the time this factor is the difference between light and heavy.

The depiction of Wei, Shu, and Wu, there is war between Shu and Wei, no peace, more peace than war between Shu and Wu, and more war than peace between Wu and Wei. However, the focus is always on the Shu and Wei side, and the depiction of Wu is somewhat neglected. It is also for this reason that those who study the characters of the Three Kingdoms are also intentionally or unintentionally biased in favor of the monarchs and ministers of Shu and Wei. In other words, the author in determining the primary and secondary aspects, is also quite thought.

Because "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a war novel, depicting the subject of war, from the observation of the special plot formed around the big and small war stories, can also be sorted out a structural vein. Zheng Tiesheng, Appreciation of the Art of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, tries to analyze its structure in this way, taking the three major battles of Guandu, Red Cliff, and Yiling as the main line, with some minor auxiliary battles interspersed in the middle, which run through the whole book and form a war system (1992, pp. 246-273). A similar statement is made by Bao Xin and Ye Xu, who take the Battle of Red Cliff as an example: from the cause to the end,*** counting eight episodes, which include Cao Cao's book, Zhuge Liang's battle of the tongues, Jiang Gan's trick, Huang Gai's use of the bitter meat trick, Kong Ming's borrowing of arrows, borrowing of the east wind, and the release of Cao Cao from the Huarong Road, and so on, with the various minor points of emphasis making up the major point of emphasis, making it a well-organized structure.

Language Features

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is written in plain literary language, simple and concise, with a clear tone. In the feudal era, those who could read and write were able to appreciate it, which was conducive to its dissemination.

The book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", especially the Mao Commentary Book, used many poems of ancient literati, and compared with the vernacular language, the use of light literary language, more able to make it more unified and harmonious with these poems in the language and style.

The book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" creates many idioms, quotes or makes up many proverbs, vivid and lively, enriching the language of the Chinese nation.

Sixth, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" on the influence of later literature

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" on the influence of later literature in several ways, one is the book is the originator of the historical novels, the later generations of historical novels, many of them are used as a model, imitation of the structure of the system; the second is that the story of the book is wonderful, the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the recent generations of dramatists from the material adapted to the play; third is the later generations of poetry and literature works to take as a canon or as a subject of chanting; fourth is the book is the book of the Three Kingdoms. Third, later poems and writings took it as an allusion, or as a theme for singing; fourth, the language of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is so sophisticated that it can enrich the language of later writers.