The Romance of Sui and Tang (Classic Edition)

The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties is a long, episodic novel by Chu Renhuo, a writer of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Combining elements of heroic legend and historical fiction, it consists of twenty volumes and one hundred chapters. Lu Xun believed it was written in the fourteenth year of the Kangxi reign (1675). The earliest surviving printed edition was published by Sixue Caotang in the thirty-fourth year of the Kangxi reign (1695).

The book is structured around historical events as its framework and individual characters as its threads. Its broad narrative centers on the “marriage across two lifetimes” of Emperor Yang of Sui, Zhu Gui'er, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, and Yang Yuhuan. It tells the legendary story of more than 170 years, from Emperor Wen of Sui's campaign against Chen to Emperor Xuanzong's return to the capital and death. The prose shifts freely in style, at times richly ornate and full of period flavor, at others vigorous and direct, bringing its characters vividly to life. It depicts Emperor Yang's extravagant palace life, the uprisings of rival leaders at the end of the Sui dynasty, Li Shimin's unification of the realm, Wu Zetian's debauchery and the turmoil she brought to the Tang, and the amorous affair between Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei. The book's sympathy for the sixteen palace ladies who were cast adrift after the fall of the Sui, and its lament for heroes such as Qin Qiong who never achieved their ambitions, are closely connected to the author's own sense of loss and hardship as a Ming loyalist after the dynasty's collapse.

The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties was compiled and reworked from official and unofficial histories of the Sui and Tang, folk legends, and popular novels. Its appearance marked a turning point in the creation of novels about the Tang, while also representing a trend in the development of long vernacular novels in the late Ming and early Qing. Its successful approach also offered inspiration and a model for later novels, including Dream of the Red Chamber.