Li Yu, Jin Shengtan's good friend and great dramatist, said to him: "Water Margin is a novelist, which is different from history; The Romance of the West Chamber is a lyric poem, which is different from the novel. Jin Shengtan accepted Li Yu's opinion, and they * * * recommended the Romance of the Three Kingdoms commented by Mao Lun and Mao Zonggang as the first talented book, followed by Good Biography, Yujiao Pear, Hirayama Lengyan, Water Margin and The West Chamber. On his initiative, Mr. Mauren approved Pipa and named it Pipa of the Seventh Talented Man. Zhong Daicang, a gifted scholar in Lingnan, imitated Mao Lun and made comments on Hua Jijian, which was named Eight Books of Talented Scholars. Since then, some people have approved Ghost Hunt and Spring Garden Residence. In this way, the top ten talented books have been formed.
Unfortunately, the "Top Ten Talented Books" have been forgotten by history for various reasons. Today, people only know Four Great Classical Novels, but they don't know that there are "Ten Talented Books" in the history of China.
As for China's classical literature, most people only know the "Four Classical Novels" today. Speaking of "Top Ten Talented Books", I'm afraid not many people know it. But two or three hundred years ago, the "Top Ten Talented Books" was not only known by almost all scholars, but also by people who were proficient in literature and ink. During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, someone once said, "A scholar is not a scholar without two books, The West Chamber and Notes among Flowers." It can be seen that The Romance of the West Chamber and The Flower Room, among the top ten books of talented people, had no less influence at that time than the four classical novels today.
The order of "Top Ten Talented Books" is:
The first Romance of the Three Kingdoms written by Luo Guanzhong in the late Yuan Dynasty was reviewed by Mao Zonggang in the early Qing Dynasty.
The second book Good Biography, also known as Chivalrous Romantic Biography and Chivalrous Good Biography, was compiled by famous scholars in the early Qing Dynasty (also known as Huayang Three) and read by foreigners.
The third book "Yujiao Pear", also known as "Double Beauty", was edited by scattered people (also known as scattered people on the shore) in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, and commented by the owners of smallpox Tibetans.
The fourth book, Cold Swallow in Pingshan, was written by an anonymous writer in the early Qing Dynasty, edited by Di 'anshan people and commented by the owner of smallpox Tibetans.
The fifth "Water Margin" was written by Shi Naian at the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, and commented by Jin Shengtan.
The Sixth Story of the Western Chamber written by Wang Shifu in Yuan Dynasty has Jin Shengtan's comments.
The seventh book, The Story of Pipa, was written by Gao Ming in Yuan Dynasty and commented by Mao Lun in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties.
The eighth "Hua" was written in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and it was anonymously named Zhong Daicang, the owner of Jingjing Zhai.
Biography of Nine Ghosts was compiled by Qiao Yunren in the early Qing Dynasty.
The tenth article "Ju Chun Yuan", also known as "Double Beauty", was edited by Wu in the middle of Qing Dynasty, and was commented by various people.
The formation of "Top Ten Talented Books" is a long process. In the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, Jin Shengtan selected six books from classics, poems and songs, and opera novels, which were regarded as the eternal swan song. These six books are Yizhuang, Ersao, Shisan, Sidu, Water Margin and The West Chamber. Jin Shengtan called them "Talented Books", also called "Talented Books Must Be Read in the World", and made detailed comments on the last three books, especially wrote a preface for The Water Margin and The West Chamber, and re-edited them, so there were Jin Shengtan's comments on The Water Margin, the fifth talented book, and the West Chamber, the sixth talented book, which were widely read later. These two books were also published in the name of the fifth gifted scholar's book and the sixth gifted scholar's book around the first year of Shunzhi (1644) and 1657 respectively. Jin Shengtan is the first person who ranks alongside unofficial history, traditional Chinese opera novels and Confucian classics. Lu Xun said: "It is a great contribution of Jin Shengtan to raise the legend of the novel to the same level as the Confucian classic Zuo Zhuan!" More boldly, Jin Shengtan cut down the long-circulating 120 water margin, gave up the last 50 copies of surrender and wooing, and wrote a nightmare of the heroes of the water margin as the ending. And his comments on The West Chamber are even more refreshing. Li Yu said: "Reading Jin Shengtan's The West Chamber can make people immortal."
In the fourth year of Kangxi (1665), influenced by Jin Shengtan, Mauren published Pipa in more than two years. He thinks Pipa Xing is a peerless masterpiece, even better than Jin Shengtan's The West Chamber. As The Story of the West Chamber is the sixth book of gifted scholars, Mauren published Pipa, which he reviewed, as the seventh book of gifted scholars.
On the basis of his father's annotation of the Three Kingdoms, Mao Zonggang, the son of Mao Lun, commented on the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms written by Luo Guanzhong sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph according to the method of Jin Shengtan's comment on the Outlaws of the Marshes and The West Chamber, and asked Jin Shengtan to make a preface. When The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was published in the 18th year of Kangxi (1679), it was preceded by "the book of saints, the book of the first scholar". As a result, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the first gifted scholar book, was widely circulated, while other versions of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms were eliminated.
The fifth gifted scholar's book The Water Margin and the sixth gifted scholar's book The West Chamber were originally arranged in the order of Jin Shengtan's A Village and Er Sao. Although Jin Shengtan can make this arrangement from the perspective of commenting on article practice and world masterpieces, Zhuangzi and Historical Records are different from novels and operas in style and literary mind. Therefore, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms annotated by Mao Zonggang was published in the name of "The Book of the First Scholar" and was immediately recognized by scholars. At this point, the framework of the gifted scholar series books is mainly novels and operas.
At that time, there were only the first, fifth, sixth and seventh gifted books on the list, and there were still some missing items, so scholars compiled books that could be included in the series of gifted books. The profit-seeking people in the bookstore also began to publish books in the name of "the first book of so-and-so talented people" The first book published is the book "Yujiao Pear" by the third gifted scholar. The title of Yujiao pear comes from the names of the three protagonists in the book (Bai Hongyu, Wu Wujiao and Lu each take one word), which was compiled by various people. The owner of smallpox Tibetan commented on it in the fifteenth year of Shunzhi (1658). Later, it was published in Jujintang in the name of the third gifted scholar book in Yujiao Pear Pocket, and it ranked third, because this book wrote three peerless talented women.
The fourth gifted scholar's book Hirayama Cold Words is also compiled by various people, describing the joys and sorrows of two talented women. The title of Hirayama Cold Words is also a word from each of the four names.
A little later than Leng Yan in Jade Jiaoli Heping Mountain, 18 Hui Zhi is a good biography, which is also about talented people and beautiful women, but the characters are more prominent and the writing style is much better. Lu Xun praised this book in A Brief History of Chinese Novels: "The words are better, the structure is more compact, the characteristics are comic, and some villains are more vivid." This book is very popular. It was quickly translated into German and French, and then into English and Russian, so it ranked second. Although these books were published very early, they were officially named as the second, third and fourth books for gifted scholars, after the spread of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in 1679.
After On Mao, Dai Cang, a bell man from Lingnan, also imitated Jin Shengtan's technique to comment on a collection of flowers that was popular in Guangzhou at that time. In the fifty-second year of Kangxi (17 13), it was published under the name of Notes on Eight Talented Scholars. Once published, it immediately caused a sensation, and the "Eighth Talented Book" was recognized.
Zhong Dai Cang Hou commented on the History of Two Lotus Flowers and annotated the Golden Lock Yuanyang Coral Fan, which was named Nine Books of Talented Persons and Ten Books of Talented Persons. At this point, the "Top Ten Talented Books" have been completed. Flower Story, History of Two Lotus Flowers and Golden Lock Yuanyang Coral Fan are all hyped by Lingnan people. Naturally, people in the Central Plains and Jiangnan are unwilling to be lonely, so they add some slightly influential works to the sequence of gifted scholars' books after comments and annotations.
For example, a layman in Qing Dynasty compiled Legend of Cui from Boling, and Bai Gui Zhi, a story about eight talented women, was also listed as the eighth book of talented people after comments.
The ninth gifted scholar's book, which is juxtaposed with The History of Two Lotus Flowers, is Ghost Hunting (also called Ghost Chopping, Ghost Ping and The Complete Biography of Zhong Kui's Ghost Hunting) written by Yunshan people in Yangzhiqiao, Shanxi Province in the 58th year of Kangxi (1720). After the publication of his book, it has surpassed the momentum of The History of Two Lotus Flowers. Influenced by it, He Dian, a novel of the same nature edited by Shanghainese Zhang Nanzhuang and commented by passers-by, came out soon. It is also listed as the ninth book of gifted scholars.
In the forty-seventh year of Qianlong (1782), Wu wrote a book, Juchunyuan (also known as Shuangmei), which was named "The Tenth Talented Man's Book" after being commented by Shuizuo. In addition, Cui Xiangchuan's Three-in-One Sword (also known as The Complete Biography of Three-in-One Beads and the Biography of Three-in-One Beads) compiled under the pseudonym of "No Writer" is also listed as the "Tenth Talented Book" with Golden Lock Yuanyang Coral Fan.
From this point of view, The Ten Talented Books was first published in the first year of Shunzhi (1644), and it took 138 years before it was finally scheduled in the middle period of Qianlong (1782). It should be pointed out that although there are several books of the eighth, ninth and tenth gifted scholars on the same list, their writing style, style and even writing realm are different, and those with poor talents gradually fade out of the historical list.