Top Four Great Classical Chinese Works

 A brief description of the "Top Four Great Classical Chinese Works".

When it comes to the four great classics, they are really well-known to every Chinese. So what are the four great classics about?

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is based on the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in ancient Chinese history. It describes this century-old historical situation. It mainly tells the political and military struggles between Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Quan and other forces, and finally Sima The story of Yan unified the Three Kingdoms and established the Jin Dynasty. The book is roughly divided into five parts: the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Dong Zhuo's Rebellion, the Competition of Heroes, the coexistence of the Three Kingdoms, and the Return of the Three Kingdoms to Jin. Through real and touching stories, it reveals the darkness and corruption within the feudal ruling class and accuses the rulers of their tyranny and ugliness.

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" not only occupies an important position in the history of literature, influencing the creation of historical novels in later generations, but also has a profound impact on later generations in terms of politics and military. The book successfully portrays many characters, such as Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, etc., as well as describes a series of classic stories, such as "The Burning of Red Cliffs", "Three Heroes Fighting Lü Bu", "Empty City Strategy", "Three Visits to the Thatched House", etc., these stories and characters have left an indelible impression in people's minds.

Water Margin

"Water Margin", The author is Shi Naian who lived in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. This gentleman had a teacher-student relationship with Luo Guanzhong.

As for whether Luo Guanzhong participated in the creation of this book, I personally think it is very possible. I have read three versions of "Water Margin".

One is the 70-chapter version (Jin Shengtan’s commentary),

The second is 100-chapters version,

Three is the 120-chapters version,

After reading them, I feel that the 70-chapters should be more consistent with being written by the same author.

The theme of the story is "officials force people to rebel". It tells the story of 108 heroes who were forced to fight against the rulers of the time, and the uprising led by Song Jiang was then recruited. There was indeed a Song Jiang uprising in real history, but it was small in scale and did not last long. In the novel, Song Jiang actually defeated Fangla's uprising army. This does not happen in history. However, it is a novel and there is a big gap between it and real history, so do not regard these things as the real history of the late Northern Song Dynasty.

Journey to the West

The third book "Journey to the West" was written by Wu Chengen in the mid-Ming Dynasty. The book has 100 chapters and is divided into three parts.
The first part is from the birth of the Monkey King to the time when Sun Wukong is pressed under the Wuzhi Mountain.
The second part is the second part from the birth of Tang Monk to before he goes to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures.
The third part is on the journey to the West.
The four most important characters in the book are Tang Monk, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Monk Sha. The Tang Monk in it is a real person in history, the name is Master Xuanzang. He spent 19 years traveling west to Tianzhu (now India) to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures. Master Xuanzang's life is very legendary, but the story of the novel has little to do with history. The language in the original work is humorous. The plot has ups and downs, and the most outstanding character is Sun Wukong. He has a spirit of resistance and has always been talked about. Especially the havoc in the Heavenly Palace is the first climactic scene at the beginning of Journey to the West, which is impressive.

Dream of Red Mansions

"Dream of Red Mansions", the author is Cao Xueqin. Its main content vividly describes the "rise and fall of the four major families", the tragic story of Bao Dai's love. This is one of the most special books, first of all, the earliest "Dream of Red Mansions" is called "The Story of Stones", and there are only eighty chapters. Later, there were many re-created versions, among which the two more famous versions are "Fat Commentary" ("Fat Yan Zhai Re-Commenting on the Stone Record") and "Cheng Gaoben" (Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E's 120 "Dream of Red Mansions"). Around this masterpiece formed a discipline for the "Red Studies". 

About this book, every time read it, the perception is always different, the more you read, the more you feel that "Dream of Red Mansions" is unprecedented, it surpasses the former, the latter is also a sigh, it contains philosophy, history, food, architecture, clothing and other knowledge, are amazing.