There are several “great lists” in Chinese culture. The Four Great Inventions are well known (paper, compass, printing, and gunpowder), as well as the Three Great Poets from the Tang Dynasty (Li Bai, Du Fu, and Wang Wei). Less known in the West is the list of Four Great Novels of Chinese literature: Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin, Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en, Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, and Water Margin by Shi Nai’an. These novels were written between the 14th and 18th centuries and are among the oldest preserved works in the world, considered masterpieces of literature and part of China’s cultural history.
WATER MARGIN
Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan), also known as Outlaws of the Marsh, was written in the 14th century and is one of the earliest novels written in spoken Chinese language. It is attributed to the writer Shi Nai’an. The story takes place during the Song Dynasty and narrates the story of a group of 108 outlaws who gather on Mount Liang to form their own army and evade imprisonment. When they became popular for their heroic acts, they were eventually recruited by the government to fight against rebellion. The too powerful, the authorities forgave their past sins and sent them on military campaigns against foreign invaders, in which they all died a heroic death.
The main characters are the rebel Song Jiang and his thirty-six comrades. The novel is primarily of a social nature and describes many problems in Chinese society – the repression and exploitation of peasants by a corrupt aristocracy and the problem of a ruthless imperial bureaucratic apparatus. In addition to the social aspect, there is a strong anti-war theme – emphasizing the senselessness of warfare and the loss of human lives.
An interesting element of the novel is the influence of Taoist mysticism in everyday life. Gongsun Sheng, a Taoist priest, is one of the most important characters without whom the heroes never go into battle. The number of heroes, 108, is the Taoist sum of 36 celestial and 72 earthly spirits.
The novel consists of a series of adventures of the main characters and resembles the stories of Robin Hood from Sherwood Forest, proving that the same archetypal characters appear in all. “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” is an epic novel about a century of war, unrest, and bloodshed known as the “Three Kingdoms” period (188-280 AD). It was written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century.
The novel is known for its elegant and poetic style, complex characters, and themes that are relevant even in modern society. Over the past five hundred years, it has had a tremendous influence on Chinese culture, language, and literature, and has inspired many books, movies, and TV series. The first sentence of the novel, “The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been.” is a legendary proverb in China.
The story begins in the last decadent days of the Han dynasty, after the government and the emperor have lost the “Heavenly Mandate”. The country is in a state of anarchy, with various warlords ruthlessly fighting for supremacy. Three new kingdoms emerge: Shu, led by the honorable Liu Bei, Wei, led by the cunning Cao Cao, and Wu, led by the brave Sun Quan. With the cunning and manipulative Cao Cao and Wu leading the ambitious Sun family, all of them strive to unite the nation for one reason or another and maintain their power. Over the course of several decades, the three kingdoms compete in a series of conflicts until the state is unified once again.
The novel offers a serious examination of the mechanisms of power, the conduct of diplomacy, and the planning and leadership of wars. The main lesson of the novel is that wars do not lead to prosperity, but only generate losses that can last for years or decades, being passed down from one generation to another. Regardless of what is happening around them, individuals must build their own path through life, unaffected by wars and failing states.
The Chinese title of the novel, San Guo Yan Yi, can also be translated as The Three Kingdoms Performing yi. Yi represents a complex concept that encompasses honor, benevolence, loyalty, selflessness, and brotherhood, and is most commonly translated as justice or duty. In traditional Chinese society, it was important to uphold these values. It is an accepted rule that one must always be respected, regardless of the circumstances. This concept is closely related to the concept of chivalry in Western culture and confirms the similarity of spiritual aspirations of all people.
JOURNEY TO THE WEST
The novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en was created in the 16th century and is based on older folk tales and fairy tales.
The story begins with the Buddhist monk Xuanzang exploring ancient Buddhist texts and realizing that the existing translations in China do not allow for deeper spiritual insights. At the request of the bodhisattva Guan Yin, he set out on a quest for the original scriptures in the West (India).
Xuanzang was accompanied by three supernatural beings who were karmically obliged to protect him as penance for past misdeeds. They were: Zhu Bajie, a pig-like, gluttonous, and greedy creature; Sha Wujing, a river monster whose terrifying appearance hides a thoughtful nature; and Sun Wukong, a monkey-like being.
Sun Wukong deserves special attention. He is a complex character with many faces, a god of tricks and mischief (similar to Loki). In Nordic mythology, Sun Wukong is a character derived from the older character Hanuman from the Indian epic Ramayana. He is endowed with superhuman strength and can transform into seventy-two different animals, but he is very impatient and prone to anger. Due to his fiery nature, he has earned powerful enemies and has been banished from heaven, punished and imprisoned on the Mountain of the Buddha for over five hundred years. This journey is his opportunity for redemption and a fresh start.
The novel consists of eighty-one adventures; in them, the heroes fight against thieves, bandits, cannibals, vampires, false priests, and monsters of all kinds whose sole purpose is to prevent Xuanzang from fulfilling his sacred mission. No matter how terrifying and powerful the enemies are, his companions defeat them with the power of unity.
Xuanzang is portrayed as a well-intentioned, spiritually pure individual whose strength lies in the combination of unwavering beliefs and a strong mind. However, he is gullible and always seeks to help the people he encounters on his journey, even if they are disguised demons. This is essential The journey prolongs the duration of the trip. However, none of it was unnecessary because Buddha commands the mastery of eighty-one challenges as part of the quest for enlightenment. Throughout the novel, the idea is emphasized that the journey is as important as the destination and that no lesson learned is in vain, no matter how much it may seem to deviate from the main goal.
The novel, which at first glance is just a fun adventure, is filled with conversations among characters about religion, good and evil, moral values, holy scriptures, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. In the end, the novel is deeply intimate – the main characters are an allegory of the spiritual journey of every human being. The Monkey King himself is initially kind-hearted but spoiled, having a high opinion of himself and not appreciating others. With the help of his comrades and the paternal figure he finds in the character of Xuanzang, he becomes compassionate, patient, and a protector of the weak. For his efforts, the gods reward him and he eventually joins them in heaven.
DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER.
The Dream of the Red Chamber was written in the mid-18th century, during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). The story revolves around the gradual decline of the noble Jia family, as seen through the eyes of the main character, Jia Baoyou. The author, Cao Xueqin (1715-1763), was also a member of a prestigious family that had fallen into poverty, which gives the novel strong biographical elements. Cao died in poverty before completing his greatest work.
In terms of scope, the novel can be compared to the epic novels of Russian classics such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, and it serves as a true encyclopedia of Chinese society and culture during the Qing dynasty. The book features over four hundred characters from all social classes, and it is rich in detailed descriptions of buildings, gardens, furniture, kitchens, medicine, clothing, poetry, etiquette, and aristocratic games and entertainment.
The introductory chapter, titled “Story of the Stone,” contains the entire novel condensed into symbolic form. The story begins at the moment when Nüwa, The older goddess of the Taoist pantheon repaired the sky and discarded a stone, which later Buddhist and Taoist priests took and brought to the mortal world so that it could be reborn as a human.
Several millennia later, another Taoist priest found the stone. Since it had been away from heaven for a long time, it became unsuitable for a pure life in the sky, but it still contained divine substance within it and therefore did not belong to the world of mortals or the heavenly world. The stone saw a flower of crimson pearl and fell in love with it. The stone and the flower were incarnated as Jia Baoyu and his cousin Lin Daiyu.
Jia Baoyu was eternally torn between heaven and earth. He was born with jade in his mouth, considered a special child who lived in the “clouds of glory,” but deeply unhappy in a decadent environment that he couldn’t resist. He spent his days indulging in aristocratic pleasures and entertainments such as writing poetry, watching opera performances, and playing in the “pleasure garden” of the family estate.
As the years passed by, Baoyu has become overly protected and spoiled, and he constantly procrastinates in fulfilling his obligations. This carefree life comes to an end when Baoyu gives in to a forbidden, but fated love affair with Lin Daiyu. Unaware of their heavenly connection, Baoyu and Daiyu feel a deep attraction, but Baoyu is expected to marry another girl, the modest Xue Baochai. This love triangle is the central theme of the novel.
Through frequent use of symbols and metaphors, the author excellently portrays a brilliant, lavish, yet melancholic world that vanished so quickly, like a dream of profound beauty and tragedy. Girls and boys, like Baoyu, lived in magnificent palaces, dressed in silk, and ate exquisite food, but they were trapped like birds in a cage, unable to escape strict social norms. The author greatly values acts of bravery and the fight for personal freedoms (especially for young women), as many young individuals, full of potential and talent, became victims of this. Without mercy, the protagonists of these four novels find themselves completely hindered in their efforts to be who they truly are. However, Cao introduces a note of optimism and shows that the power lies within the individual, and that one can change their own life and remain forever young by acting in accordance with higher principles, staying strong in their beliefs and constantly seeking deeper meanings.
The influence of these four novels has spread beyond the borders of China, with their elements being found in Japanese and Korean mythology, as well as in the mythologies of other Southeast Asian peoples.
The writing and dissemination of these works marked the emergence of the novel as a form different from previous philosophical and poetic works in China. The expansive form of the novel allowed for the synthesis of history and mythology, with an interesting plot development. As a result, these works brought literature closer to the people, most evident in their use of vernacular languages and freedom of speech, which enabled future writers to express the desires and aspirations not only of the aristocracy but also of the majority of Chinese society. These novels introduce the Western reader to the traditional Chinese way of thinking, in which Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism intertwine, along with the idea of constant change through the interaction of cosmic polarities. By reading literature from both East and West in parallel, it is once again confirmed that people have always been touched by the same questions and themes – human destinies, the pursuit of happiness, the meaning of responsibility, the power of love… Literature thus loses its national boundaries and becomes a universal medium of action and thought for humans, whether they live in China or Europe, in the 14th or 21st century.