Four Great Classical Novels

Four Great Classical Novels

Literary creation flourished during the Ming and Qing dynasties and it was in this period that the four great Chinese classical novels were written, namely the Romance of Three Kingdoms, the Outlaws of the Marsh, the Journey to the West and A Dream of Red Mansions.

1. The Romance of Three Kingdoms

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was originally named as the Popular Historical Novel Bansed on a Folk Version of the Records of The Three Kingdoms, is a renowned historical novel. Luo Guanzhong, the author of this book, based his novel on both folk tales and historical records of the conflicts between the kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu (220-235), established by Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan respectively. Written in the early Ming Dynasty, it was the first historical novel in the form of captioned chapters to appear in China. In the novel, the author successfully created a number of impressive characters with varying dispositions, such as Zhuge Liang (a superb strategist), Cao Cao (the cunning and suspicious), Guan Yu (loyal and brave), Zhang Fei (rash and reckless) and etc.

2. The Outlaws of the Marsh

The Outlaws of the Marsh which occurred almost at the same time as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, was written by Shi Nai'an. It is based on the folk tales following a band of rebels led by Song Jiang at the close of the Northern Song Dynasty. The novel is themed with 'mass revolts caused by oppressive officials'. It describes 108 heroes and heroines, discloses official corruption and feudal oppression and eulogizes the daring deeds of the heroes and heroines who eliminated tyrants and appeased kind people.

3. The Journey to the West

The Journey to the West was authored by Wu Cheng'en of the Ming Dynasty, is a mixture of the true story of a Tang Dynasty monk who made a perilous overland trip to India to fetch Buddhist scriptures and the pertinent folklore based on it. The novel tells how Sun Wukong (Monkey King) who once created a tremendous uproar in the Heaven Palace, escorts his master, the Monk of Tang to fetch Buddhist scriptures from the Western Heaven. According to the novel, they experienced 81 tests on the journey before finally obtaining the authentic scriptures. The novel features rich imagination, wonderful stories and vivid language. It is a renowned mythic full-length novel of China.

4. A Dream of Red Mansions

A Dream of Red Mansions also named as A Tale of the Rock has 120 chapters. The first 80 chapters were written by Cao Xueqin and the remaining 40 chapters were written by Gao E. With the tragic love story of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu as the main theme, the novel describes the decline of four feudal noble families especially the Jia family. The novel discloses the illness of feudal rulers and reveals the doomed fate of feudal dynasties. It is the best paragon for the combination of artistic accomplishment and literary themes among all classical full-length novels in ancient China and a masterpiece of realistic literature of China.

The Four Great Classical Novels and other outstanding works during the period reflected the social reality of that time.