Since the publication of Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong in the Ming Dynasty, it has been widely circulated and various editions have emerged in endlessly. There are more than 20 engravings in the Ming Dynasty and more than 70 in the Qing dynasty. It can be said that the number of versions of "Three Kingdoms" is unparalleled among ancient novels. This is probably related to the historical background at that time.
From a morphological point of view, there are roughly three versions of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
1. "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
2. "The Biography of the Three Kingdoms"
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3. The revised version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" by Mao Zonggang and his son
Among them, the version by Mao Zonggang and his son is the most outstanding, known as the "No. 1 Book of Talents". Modern People's Literature Publishing House regards Mao's version as the Based on this, Mao's comments were deleted, some errors were corrected, and a few comments were added to make it a better general version. However, due to limitations of past research levels, there are still many "technical errors" in the edition compiled by People's Literature Publishing House, including errors in characters, geography, official positions, calendar errors and other types of errors. Despite this, it remains the most widely circulated version to this day.
Since the 1980s, many publishing houses have reorganized it, but not many of them have academic value. Among them, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" published by Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House has been highly praised by academic circles and readers. Highly praised and considered the best version to date. Correct a large number of "technical errors" that exist in the book, and list the "technical errors" in order in the form of a "correction list", point out the errors, put forward correction opinions, and explain the basis for correction; at the same time, for readers who do not know or are specious, Annotations are provided everywhere, explaining the profound things in simple terms, giving people new knowledge.
About the version of my country's classic novel "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
"The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" published by Renwu in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the "Luo Ben", which has been circulated among the people for a long time. It is composed of the story of Liu, Guan and Zhang Taoyuan becoming sworn brothers. As early as the late Tang Dynasty, the story of the Three Kingdoms had been circulated among the people. Li Yishan's "Poetry of Jiaoer" says: "Someone may mock Zhang Feihu (big beard), or laugh at Deng Aichi (stuttering)." In the Northern Song Dynasty, speakers appeared who specialized in telling the story of the separation of the Three Kingdoms. In the Yuan Dynasty, many dramas retelling the stories of the Three Kingdoms appeared, and a "Three Kingdoms Pinghua" appeared. This Pinghua started from the Yellow Turban Uprising to the unification of the Western Jin Dynasty, and already had a relatively complete storyline. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Luo Guanzhong compiled "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" based on the work of his predecessors and using historical data from Chen Shou's "Three Kingdoms" and Pei Songzhi's "Notes". As soon as this popular novel came out, many publications appeared. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Mao Zonggang revised it to make the novel's text content more complete and called it "The First Book of Talented Scholars". This is the 120-chapter version of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" we see today. As soon as Mao Ben appeared, Robben disappeared into obscurity.
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is the pioneer work of chapter novels in my country. The earliest version was "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" published during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, also known as the "Luo version" and "Jiajing version". This is the original version that the public believes is closest to Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". It is China's first chapter-length novel and one of the model creations that combines mass creation and writer's creation. It is also an ancient historical romance novel with high achievements and great influence. The story of the Three Kingdoms has been spread among the people for a long time. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Pei Songzhi wrote annotations for Chen Shou's "Three Kingdoms" and used many folklore stories. According to Li Shangyin's "Proud Childhood" in the late Tang Dynasty, "sometimes they are teasing Zhang Feihu, or laughing at Deng Aichi." It can be seen that the story of the Three Kingdoms has been popular among the people in the late Tang Dynasty. Su Shi's "Dongpo Zhilin" said: "When the children in Tuxiang heard that Liu Xuande was defeated, they often frowned and some shed tears; when they heard that Cao Cao was defeated, they sang fast." This was reflected in Bianliang, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, where folk artists had performed A story of the Three Kingdoms with the tendency of "supporting Liu and opposing Cao". There are at least thirty kinds of dramas from the Jin and Yuan Dynasties that reenacted the historical events of the Three Kingdoms. During the Zhizhi period of Yingzong of the Yuan Dynasty (1321-1323), there was the Jian'an Yu family's "Quanxiang Three Kingdoms Chronicles", which consisted of three volumes, the upper, middle and lower volumes. The later "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has been roughly included in this book. Specific scale.
Luo Guanzhong (ca. 1330 - ca. 1400) was based on the above-mentioned folk legends and scripts and operas created by folk artists, and collected official histories, miscellaneous histories, biographies, Anonymous, and combined with his rich life experience, he wrote the immortal "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which was later published in the first year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1522). After the publication of Luo's book, new editions appeared one after another, all of which were based on Luo Ben. Only some textual research, criticism, text additions and deletions, and review of volumes were done, and the content was not changed much. "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", 60 volumes, 120 chapters, commonly known as the "Mao version". It is currently the most popular version. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Mao Zonggang made major revisions to Luo Ben, attached comments, and published it. It has a total of 750,000 words and has become the 120-chapter version that is popular today. His teacher Jin Shengtan called it "the first Book of Talents".
To understand the situation of the Three Kingdoms, in addition to history books, the different versions of the literary masterpiece "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" through the ages are the best choice.
Since its birth, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has won the favor of bibliophiles and book engravers of all ages with its magnificent momentum, grand scenes, touching storylines and vivid and touching character descriptions, and has also been favored by ordinary people. A warm welcome from readers. At present, the various versions handed down form a huge system. There are more than 30 extant editions from the Ming Dynasty and more than 70 editions from the Qing Dynasty. The origins of the various editions are the most complex among ancient novels.
A "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" with countless versions constitutes an important carrier for understanding, researching and spreading the culture of the Three Kingdoms.
70 years ago, Zheng Zhenduo published "The Evolution of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Luo Guanzhong and His Works", proposing that the Jiajing Renwu version of "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was the earliest version of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The author is Luo Guanzhong. This theory has continued for many years. In 1995, scholar Zhang Zhihe discovered the version of "The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" published by Lin Huang Zhengfu of Ming Dynasty in the National Library. Although this version was included in Mr. Sun Kaidi's "Bibliography of Chinese Popular Novels", it has never attracted the attention of researchers. Mr. Zhang Zhihe compared the "Ming Shu Lin Huang Zhengfu's "Three Kingdoms"" with the Jiajing Renwu edition of "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and concluded that this Jiajing Huang's edition originally engraved in Fujian is at least better than the Jiajing Renwu edition. This version of "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is 20 years earlier. This version is considered by some scholars to be the "original compiled" version earlier than other "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms" in the Ming Dynasty and the ancestral version of various "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" publications. At the same time, Mr. Zhang’s conclusion casts doubt on whether the author is Luo Guanzhong.
In fact, in the huge version system of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the most influential ones are the Jiajing first year version (commonly known as "Luo Ben") and Mao Lun and Mao Zonggang's revised version (known as "Mao version") . After the founding of New China, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms published by various publishing houses followed these two systems.
According to a survey by researchers, among the existing Ming Dynasty versions, the ones that have survived the most are the various "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" from Wanli to Tianqi, which are known as "popular versions". Based on comparison, researchers believe that although these versions are later than the Jiajing Renwu version of the "Three Kingdoms", their ancestors were published earlier than the Jiajing Renwu version, which means that the "Three Kingdoms" version that has been circulated in the world is It should be earlier than the Jiajing Renwu version of "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Some researchers also believe that Luo Guanzhong did not start writing "The Legend of the Three Kingdoms" until 40 years after the printed version of "Three Kingdoms" appeared, and then all other printed versions of "Three Kingdoms" were based on Luo's work. Therefore, it can be concluded that the printed version of "Three Kingdoms" is earlier than the "Three Kingdoms" Book. "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was produced on the basis of various chronicles.
In recent years, some foreign scholars of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" have made fruitful research results. It is worth noting that the British scholar Wei An conducted detailed research on the various existing versions of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", including examining 26 different non-Mao Commentary versions, including one from the Shanghai Library that is believed to have been published earlier than other versions. The remaining pages are in the collection, as well as the "History of the Three Kingdoms" published by Ye Fengchun in the 27th year of Jiajing's reign in the library of the Esgoria Monastery in Spain. Through research, Wei An believes that the original "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was written by Luo Guanzhong at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. After being circulated, it evolved into the most common ancestor version of various existing versions: the Yuanzu version. The main text is in 10 volumes, with a general song at the beginning. The Houyuan ancestral edition was divided into the ancestral edition of the AB system and the ancestral edition of the CD system, which were published in the middle of the Ming Dynasty respectively.
In short, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has many versions and complex origins. Although various studies have achieved some results, there are still many issues that need to be clarified. At the same time, this also reflects the long history and profoundness of our country's history and culture.