1. Cao Xueqin's "A Dream of Red Mansions"
"A Dream of Red Mansions" is one of the four great classics in ancient China. It is a chapter-length novel written in 1784 (the 49th year of Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty). The preface by Juezhu is officially titled "A Dream of Red Mansions". Its original names include "The Story of the Stone", "The Record of the Love Monk", "Feng Yue Bao Jian", "The Twelve Hairpins of Jinling", etc. The first 80 chapters were written by Cao Xueqin, and the last 40 chapters were continued by Gao E (some say they were continued by an unknown person), and compiled by Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E. "Dream of Red Mansions" is a world-influential human romance novel, universally recognized as the pinnacle of Chinese classical novels, an encyclopedia of Chinese feudal society, and a master of traditional culture. The novel takes the rise and fall of the four major families of Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue as the background, with the family trivial matters and boudoir leisure as the center, and the love and marriage stories of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai as the main line. It describes the story of Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai. The human beauty and tragic beauty of lovers centered on the Twelve Hairpins of Jinling extols the rebellious characters who pursue light, and reveals the crisis of the feudal apocalypse through the tragic fate of the rebels.
2. The Chinese classic "The Book of Songs"
The "Book of Songs" is the beginning of ancient Chinese poetry and the earliest collection of poems. It collects poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period (11 BC). century to the 6th century BC), there are a total of 311 poems, 6 of which are Sheng poems, that is, they only have titles and no content, which are called the six Sheng poems (Nanmei, Baihua, Huashui, Youkang, Chongwu , Youyi), reflecting the social outlook of about five hundred years from the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty to the late Zhou Dynasty.
3. "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" by Luo Guanzhong
The full name of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms". It is a long historical novel written by Luo Guanzhong of the Ming Dynasty. "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is the first chapter-length novel in ancient China. It is one of the four great classics in ancient China, as famous as "Journey to the West", "Water Margin" and "A Dream of Red Mansions". "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" describes the complex struggles in politics, military, diplomacy and other aspects between the three ruling groups of Cao Wei, Shu Han and Sun Wu during the historical period from the end of Han Dynasty to the beginning of Jin Dynasty. "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" marks the glorious achievement of historical romance novels. It plays an inestimable role in disseminating experience in political and military struggles.
4. "Three Hundred Tang Poems" by Hengtang Retired Scholar
"Three Hundred Tang Poems" is a widely circulated anthology of Tang poems. The 289 years of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) were the golden age for the development of Chinese poetry. The clouds were booming, famous writers emerged in large numbers, and the number of Tang poems reached more than 50,000. Sun Qin'an's "Abstracts of Six Hundred Selected Poems of the Tang Dynasty: Preface" points out that "a large number of selected volumes of Tang Poems have been lost, and there are still more than 300 kinds of them. Among them, the most popular and well-known one is "Three Hundred Tang Poems". "Three Hundred Tang Poems" has a wide range of poems, including 77 poems and 310 poems. Among them, Du Fu has the largest number of poems, with 38 poems, Wang Wei's 29 poems, Li Bai's 27 poems, and Li Shangyin's 22 poems. . It is the best introductory book for primary and secondary school students to learn about Chinese classical poetry.
5. Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West"
"Journey to the West" is the first romantic novel about gods and demons in ancient China. It mainly tells the story of three people, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Seng, who protected Monk Tang on his journey to the west to obtain scriptures. They encountered eighty-one difficulties along the way. The novel is rich in imagination and boldly combines the images of gods, demons and humans, creating a series of unforgettable artistic shapes. The style of the work is humorous, the language is simple, lively and lively. It has been very popular among readers throughout the ages and is the most accomplished and influential novel among the long novels about gods and demons.
6. "Shishuoxinyu" by Liu Yiqing
"Shishuoxinyu" is a book published in the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty. The author is Liu Yiqing and others. "Shishuoxinyu", also known as "Shiyu", mainly records the anecdotes and mysterious talks of celebrities in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. It can also be said that this is a collection of stories recording the romantic affairs of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. It is a collection of stories from the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties in China The representative work of "note novels" is my country's earliest collection of novels written in classical Chinese.
7. "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio"
"Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" is a collection of short stories in classical Chinese written in the early Qing Dynasty in my country. It contains nearly 500 novels. They may talk about folk customs and customs, strange stories, or the strange changes of all things in the world, with a wide range of themes. With its unique storyline and colorful artistic images, the author Pu Songling had a poor academic record and poor life, and had a profound understanding of the society at that time. The countless seemingly absurd stories and artistic images he created have ideological content rooted in society, and thus tortuously reflected the social contradictions of the time and the wishes, loves, hates and other thoughts and feelings of the broad masses of the people. Among them, It also casts the author's own feelings and expresses the author's own loneliness and anger. This book has always been regarded as a masterpiece among novels and has the reputation of "unprecedented".
8. "Water Margin" by Shi Naian The date has yet to be verified, but it is generally believed to have been written in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, and was completed as late as the middle to late Ming dynasty. It is the first full-length novel written in vernacular Chinese in Chinese history, pioneering the vernacular chapter novel, and one of the four major Chinese novels. One of the famous works, it is also one of the most epic works in Chinese literature. There are many editions, it is widely circulated and popular among the people. The study of "Water Margin" and related culture is called Water Margin science, or water science for short.
9. "The Romance of the West Chamber" by Wang Shifu
The full name of "The Romance of the West Chamber" is "The Romance of Cui Yingying Waiting for the Moon in the Western Chamber". The author Wang Shifu is a famous dramatist in the Yuan Dynasty. The lyrics of "The Romance of the West Chamber" are gorgeous and beautiful, full of poetic artistic conception. It can be said that every piece of music is a wonderful lyric poem. It is a realist masterpiece of Chinese classical drama and has a great influence on later novels and dramas with love as the theme.
10. "The Scholars" by Wu Jingzi
"The Scholars" is a novel written by Wu Jingzi in the Qing Dynasty. Fifty-six chapters. The book was written in 1749 (the fourteenth year of Qianlong's reign) or a little before. It was first handed down as a manuscript and was first engraved in 1803 (the eighth year of Jiaqing's reign). Realistically depicting the different expressions of "fame and wealth" of various types of people, on the one hand, it truly reveals the process and reasons for the corruption of human nature, thereby deeply criticizing and ridiculing the corruption of officials at that time, the shortcomings of the imperial examinations, the hypocrisy of ethics, etc. ; On the one hand, it passionately praises the protection of human nature by a few characters in a way that insists on themselves, thus embodying the author's ideal. The use of vernacular has become more proficient and comfortable, and the characterization of characters is also quite in-depth and delicate, especially the use of superb satirical techniques, making the book a masterpiece of Chinese classical satirical literature. This book represents the peak of ancient Chinese satirical novels, and it creates an example of using novels to directly evaluate real life.