"A Dream of Red Mansions" is the first of the four classic Chinese classics. It is a chapter-style novel written by Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty. It takes the rise and fall of the four major families of Jia, Shi, Wang, and Xue as the background, and reveals the deep-seated contradictions and human tragedies of feudal society through the tragedies of love, marriage, and family destiny changes of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, and Xue Baochai. The book combines realism and romanticism, and is known as an encyclopedia and cultural master of Chinese feudal society.
"Water Margin" is one of the four famous classics in ancient China. It was written by Shi Naian (co-authored by Yishuo and Luo Guanzhong) in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. It is the first chapter-style novel written in vernacular Chinese in Chinese history. The work takes the Song Jiang Uprising in the late Northern Song Dynasty as the main line, and through the whole process of 108 Liangshan heroes gathering for justice, resisting and failing to recruit security, it profoundly reveals the social contradictions of "officials forcing the people to rebel", and creates the images of classic heroes such as Song Jiang, Lu Zhishen, and Lin Chong.
"Journey to the West" is one of the four great classics in ancient China. It is a long romantic novel about gods and demons written by Wu Cheng'en in the Ming Dynasty. It mainly tells the story of Tang Monk, his master and his apprentice, who traveled to the West to learn scriptures and experienced eighty-one hardships.
