This book is mainly written by a group of students who believe that "learning to be excellent is to be an official". They regard reading as a stepping stone. For money and wealth, they can study sleepless nights, and they can learn from black hair to white hair, just to gain fame. There are also some corrupt officials who do not hesitate to sacrifice the people in order to plunder the fat of the people, and also talk about "three years to clear the magistrate, 100 thousand yuan" and so on.

The Scholars is a novel of Wu in Qing Dynasty. It was written in the 14th year of Qianlong (1749) or earlier, and it was handed down as a manuscript, which was first engraved in the 8th year of Jiaqing (1803). "The Scholars" represents the peak of China's ancient satirical novels, which initiated the direct evaluation of real life with novels. After the manuscript of The Scholars was published, a manuscript was handed down and was highly praised by later generations.

Extended data:

Creation background

Wu, the author of The Scholars, was born in a noble family. Great-grandfather and great-grandfather are two generations of "versatile officials" (Biography of Mr. Wenmu by Cheng Jinfang). * * * has six scholars, including one second prize and one flower detective. And his father, Wu, was a tribute during the Kangxi period.

In sixty-one (1722), Wu Kangxi was admitted as a scholar, and his father died in the same year. Because he is not good at managing his livelihood, he lives like a prodigal son. In the seventh year of Yongzheng (1729), when he took part in the imperial examination, he was dismissed as a "variant" and was insulted. Later, he left his hometown angrily and made a living by selling articles and helping friends.

This personal experience made him feel particularly deeply about the advantages and disadvantages of stereotyped writing and imperial examination.

Writing characteristics

The characterization in The Scholars mainly uses documentary, editing, concentration, comprehensive introduction, deformation, idealization and other methods, and presents the characteristics of integrity. Taking the living characters as the prototype, Wu used these six creative methods to create brilliant artistic images such as Tu Mian, the famous scholar Du and the real Confucian Yu Yide.

However, in the process of Wu's selection of life characters into his works and shaping life prototypes into artistic images, there is a problem worthy of consideration, that is, when he portrays ideal characters like Yu Yide and Zhuang Shaoguang, he shows a tendency of not paying attention to talent and morality.