China's ancient novels can be roughly divided into two categories. One kind is the novel recorded in Yiwenzhi Twenty-five Years History, which is generally called the sub-novel of Historical Records; One kind is folk popular novels, also known as vernacular novels, which are generally not included in the 25-year-old Literary Annals.
The twenty-five histories mentioned here are the academic circles' collective names for the official history revision of past dynasties, including Historical Records, Hanshu, Houhanshu, The History of the Three Kingdoms, Jinshu, Songshu, Nanqi Shu, Liang Shu, Chenshu, Wei Shu, Beiqi Shu and Zhoushu.
In addition, there are Sui Shu, Old Tang Book, New Tang Book, Old Five Dynasties History, New Five Dynasties History, Song History, Liao History, Jin History, Yuan History, Ming History and Qing History Draft.
On the other hand, Yiwenzhi was founded in Hanshu, which recorded the documents handed down from the Han Dynasty to before the Han Dynasty. Sui Shu and Jiutangshu were called Jingjizhi. In the Twenty-Five Histories, although some official histories don't have Yi Wen Zhi or Jing Ji Zhi, scholars in Qing Dynasty did some supplementary work.
An Overview of China s Ancient Novels in the 20th Century;
The study of ancient novels in China in the 20th century mainly adopted the concept of modern western novels, emphasizing the story and fiction of novels. Therefore, many China historical novels failed to enter the field of vision of researchers, and some even refused to admit that they were novels at all. The compilation and research of China's historical novels can't be carried out in an all-round way, and many valuable cultural resources can't be developed and utilized reasonably.
However, with the development of China's economy and the promotion of its national strength, China's culture has attracted more and more attention and love from people all over the world, and China scholars' awareness of cultural localization and academic standards have also been increasingly enhanced.