Ming and Qing Dynasties are the prosperous periods in the history of China's novels. Since the Ming Dynasty, the novel has fully demonstrated its social function and literary value, breaking the monopoly of orthodox poetry. In the history of literature, it has achieved the status of keeping pace with Tang poetry, Song ci and Yuan qu. The Qing Dynasty was a period when China's classical novels flourished and declined and turned into modern novels.
China's novels began to take shape in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, which prepared the conditions for the prosperity of novels in Ming and Qing Dynasties. At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, based on the scripts, the novels Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin and The Journey to the West were produced. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a folk story of the Three Kingdoms recorded by Luo Guanzhong.
Extended data:
China, known as "the novels of Tang poetry, Song poetry, Yuan Qu and Ming and Qing Dynasties", summed up the spiritual wealth that Huaxia Shenzhou contributed to human society in the form of cultural chain. "Tang Poetry, Song Poetry, Yuan Qu, Ming and Qing Novels" are four bright pearls in the treasure house of ancient literature and art in China, and they are also precious wealth in the world art forest.
China literature, from the Book of Songs, Chu Ci, pre-Qin prose and Han Fu to Tang poetry, Song Ci, Yuan Qu and even novels in Ming and Qing Dynasties, constitutes the cultural history of China for thousands of years.
And "Tang Poetry, Song Poetry, Yuan Qu, Ming and Qing Novels" played the strongest sound of art in Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. They have transcended their own meanings, become artistic symbols of their respective times, and formed the inherent regularity of China culture, the main line of inner beauty and the course of beauty.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Ming and Qing Novels