The Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literature
The Four Great Classical Novels (四大名著, sì dà míngzhù) of Chinese literature — Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West, and Dream of the Red Chamber — are the supreme works of the Chinese vernacular novel tradition. They were all written in the vernacular (白話, báihuà) rather than in classical Chinese, and they all originated in oral storytelling traditions. They were composed across the late Yuan, the Ming, and the Qing. For a broader look at the imperial literary tradition, see the survey of Chinese literature and writing across the imperial era, and for a focused look at the earlier classical poetry and prose, see the article on classical Chinese literature from the Book of Songs to the Song Ci.
The Origins of the Vernacular Novel
Chinese fiction has deep roots. The zhiguai (志怪, “records of the strange”) of the Six Dynasties and Tang collected tales of the supernatural; the chuanqi (傳奇, “transmitting the strange”) of the Tang were short romantic tales in the vernacular. By the Song dynasty, the urban entertainment districts (washe 瓦舍) of cities like Hangzhou were full of professional storytellers, and the Sanyan (三言, “Three Words”) and Erpai (二拍, “Two Slaps”) collections of Feng Menglong and Ling Mengchu in the late Ming preserved many of their tales. Out of this tradition, the four great novels emerged.
The four novels share several features. All were written in the vernacular, all drew on earlier oral and written sources, all are long (the longest, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, runs to 120 chapters), and all are deeply concerned with moral, political, and religious questions. They were, however, written across more than three centuries, in very different historical circumstances, and their styles and themes are distinct.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義, Sānguó Yǎnyì) is the earliest of the four great novels, attributed to the Ming novelist Luo Guanzhong (c. 1330–c. 1400). It is a historical novel set at the end of the Han dynasty and during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 CE), when the Han empire fragmented into three successor states: Wei in the north, Shu in the southwest, and Wu in the southeast.
Plot and Themes
The novel draws on Chen Shou’s Records of the Three Kingdoms (三國志) and on the popular storytelling tradition that had grown up around the heroes of the period. The story follows the rise of the three kingdoms through the careers of figures such as Liu Bei, founder of Shu; Guan Yu, his paragon of loyalty; Zhuge Liang, the brilliant chancellor of Shu; Cao Cao, the ruthless founder of Wei; and Sun Quan, founder of Wu. The novel culminates in the reunification of the realm under the Jin dynasty in 280 CE, but its moral centre is the tragic failure of Shu’s virtuous heroes against the more ruthless Wei. The opening line, “天下大勢, 分久必合, 合久必分” (“The empire, long united, must divide; long divided, must unite”), became a proverb. The novel has been a staple of Chinese popular culture for six centuries, inspiring countless plays, operas, and films.
Water Margin (水滸傳)
Water Margin (水滸傳, Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn), also known as Outlaws of the Marsh, is traditionally attributed to Shi Nai’an (c. 1296–c. 1372). It is set in the Northern Song dynasty and tells the story of a band of 108 outlaws who gather at the marsh stronghold of Liangshan (梁山) to rebel against a corrupt government.
Plot and Themes
The novel follows a long string of heroes, each of whom has been driven to banditry by injustice: a military officer wrongly punished, a butcher whose family has been killed by a corrupt magistrate, a fisherman forced off his boat, and so on. The 108 heroes are organised as the 108 Stars of Destiny, 36 Heavenly Spirits and 72 Earthly Fiends, and the novel follows their recruitment, their growth as a military force, and finally their campaign against foreign invaders on behalf of the emperor. The novel ends with most of the heroes dead, killed in battle or executed by the suspicious government they had served. The novel is admired for its vigorous action, its celebration of brotherhood and loyalty, and its moral ambiguity: the heroes are charming and brave but often violent.
Journey to the West (西遊記)
Journey to the West (西遊記, Xī Yóu Jì) is attributed to Wu Cheng’en (c. 1500–c. 1582), a Ming novelist and poet. It is a fantastic Buddhist adventure story that combines religion, allegory, and slapstick comedy in ways that have no real Western equivalent. The novel follows the pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang (玄奘, 602–664) from China to India to fetch the Buddhist scriptures.
Plot and Themes
Xuanzang is accompanied by three supernatural disciples, each a former celestial being punished by being sent down to earth. Sun Wukong (孫悟空), the Monkey King, is the central figure: a stone-born monkey who learned magic, fought the gods of heaven, and was imprisoned under a mountain for 500 years before being released to serve as Xuanzang’s protector. Zhu Bajie (豬八戒), the pig, is a licentious and lazy but good-natured companion. Sha Wujing (沙悟淨) is a quieter, more steadfast figure. The white horse is a transformed dragon prince.
The novel is structured as a series of encounters with demons and monsters, almost all of whom want to eat the monk to gain immortality, and almost all of whom are reformed and forgiven at the end. The story is both a sincere Buddhist allegory of the spiritual path and a hilarious satire of bureaucracy. Sun Wukong is one of the most beloved characters in Chinese literature: mischievous, brave, and loyal. The novel has inspired countless films, television series, and Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball manga and anime.
Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢)
Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢, Hóng Lóu Mèng), also known as The Story of the Stone (石頭記, Shítóu Jì), is attributed to Cao Xueqin (1715–1763), a Qing novelist who came from a family that had served the Qing court. The novel is generally considered the greatest of the four great novels, and one of the supreme works of world literature. Cao wrote the first 80 chapters; the last 40 were completed after his death by Gao E (c. 1740–c. 1803).
Plot and Themes
The novel is a largely autobiographical account of the rise and fall of the Jia family, a wealthy and aristocratic household in eighteenth-century Beijing. At the centre are Jia Baoyu, the young heir of the family, and his two cousins, the delicate and consumptive Lin Daiyu and the gracious and capable Xue Baochai. The novel follows their adolescence, the family’s lavish lifestyle, the intricate web of relationships among the women and men of the household, and the family’s slow financial and moral decline. The novel is famous for its psychological depth, its detailed and sympathetic portrayal of women, its autobiographical resonance with Cao’s own family, and its poetic prose, which set a new standard for the Chinese novel. The novel is also famous for its use of Buddhist and Daoist ideas of illusion and emptiness, and its open-ended quality: the last 40 chapters trace the family’s decline and Baoyu’s departure from the world, but the meaning of his departure is left ambiguous.
Influence and Adaptations
The four great novels have been extraordinarily influential in Chinese culture. They have been continuously reprinted since the Ming dynasty; they have been the basis of operas, plays, and storytelling traditions; they have shaped the Chinese understanding of history, morality, and the human condition. Major adaptations include the CCTV television series of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (1994) and Journey to the West (1986), and the opera The Red Chamber Dream by the Kunqu master. In modern China, the four novels are still part of the standard school curriculum. The characters — Guan Yu, Sun Wukong, Lin Daiyu, Song Jiang, and the rest — are familiar cultural reference points in the way that Hamlet or Don Quixote are in the West.