1, Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a combination of folklore, drama scripts, Chen Shou's History of the Three Kingdoms, Ye Fan's History of the Later Han Dynasty, Yuan Zaju's History of the Three Kingdoms, Pei Songzhi's annotations and other historical materials, as well as the author's personal understanding of social life. At present, the earliest edition is Ming Jiajing edition, which is divided into 24 volumes and 240 articles. In the early Qing Dynasty, Mao Zonggang and his son made some modifications and became the most common transcript of 120.
2. Water Margin
Outlaws of the Marsh is the first novel in the history of China that eulogizes the peasant uprising in ancient vernacular. Taking the rebel army led by Song Jiang as the main theme, through a series of vivid stories of Liangshan heroes' resistance to oppression and heroic struggle, the decay and cruelty of the ruling class in the late Northern Song Dynasty were exposed, and the sharp social contradictions and the cruel reality of "officials forcing the people to rebel" at that time were exposed.
3. Journey to the West
The first seven chapters of Journey to the West described the story of the Monkey King's birth, such as making a scene in heaven. After that, he wrote the story of the Monkey King following the Tang Priest to learn Buddhist scriptures and exorcising demons and overcoming difficulties along the way. The images of Tang Priest, the Monkey King, Pig Bajie and Friar Sand in the book are vivid, large in scale and complete in structure, while The Journey to the West is rich in China Buddhism, with far-reaching influence and different opinions. It can be appreciated from the perspectives of Buddhism, Taoism and vulgarity, and it is a great romantic literary work in Chinese classical novels.
4. A Dream of Red Mansions
A Dream of Red Mansions is a novel with chapters. 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".
Evaluation of four classic novels
The four classical novels inherit countless cultural essences and stand in the vast field of classical novels like four mountains. No matter how the world changes, its majestic posture will never be annihilated. Four Great Classical Novels represents the pinnacle of China's classical novels, and it is a brilliant stroke in the history of China literature, both in artistic technique and ideological depth.
Studying the four classic novels provides us with an opportunity to experience China's traditional humanities, society, ethics, history, geography, folklore, psychology and coping strategies. At the same time, it also allows us to have a deeper understanding of our own nation and culture. Four Great Classical Novels is a classic in the history of China literature and one of the precious cultural heritages in the world.
The above contents refer to Baidu Encyclopedia-Four Classic Novels.