Outline and main plot of The Scholars

Synopsis: Fifty-six chapters of the book depict different expressions of "fame and fortune" by various people in a realistic way. On the one hand, it truly reveals the process and reasons of human nature being corroded, thus profoundly criticizing and mocking the corruption of bureaucracy and the hypocrisy of imperial examinations at that time.

On the one hand, it enthusiastically praised the protection of human nature by a few characters in a self-centered way, thus embodying the author's ideal. The use of vernacular Chinese in the novel is becoming more and more skillful, and the characterization of characters is also quite in-depth and delicate, especially the superb satirical techniques, which makes this book a masterpiece of China's classical satirical literature.

Main plot: The novel lasted for about 248 years from the end of Yuan Dynasty to the beginning of Ming Dynasty ("Wedge") to the forty-four years of Ming Wanli ("Youbang"). The text starts from the second time, and the story takes place at the end of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, about 120 years away from the "wedge"; At the end of the 55th story of "Sike", it happened in the 23rd year of Wanli, 21 years away from "AIA".

After the rise and fall of a dynasty. At the end of Yuan Dynasty, Wang Mian, the son of a farmer in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, became a self-taught student. Because he didn't want to share the trouble with the magistrate and the squire, he avoided selling paintings in Jinan, Shandong Province for a living. Half a year later, the Yellow River burst its banks and the people were displaced. Wang Mian returned to his hometown. Soon, my mother died of illness. Another year passed, and the world was in chaos. The prince of Wu settled the national treasure and went to see Wang Mian and asked him how to level the world. A few years later, the king of Wu founded Daming, and the Ministry of Rites agreed to select scholars with the eight-part essay of the Four Books, Five Classics and Eight Writings.

Therefore, Wang Mian predicted that "a generation of literati will be in trouble", so he took refuge in Kuaiji Mountain in time. At the end of Chenghua, Xue Jiaji of Wenshang County, Yanzhou, Shandong Province set up a school in Kannonji, and Xia Zongjia recommended Zhou to teach. As a old boys, Zhou Jin was laughed at by the scholar Mei Jiu, looked down on Wang Hui and felt infinite humiliation. A year later, I lost my house, but I was full of resentment. When my sister Zhang Jinyou went to the provincial capital to keep accounts for businessmen, she went swimming in Hiram's Hospital. Seeing the signboard, she was furious and went to sleep, unconscious. Later, he was sponsored by businessmen and donated to the prison to take the exam. He was awarded the position of juren and scholar, made a suggestion and ordered to go to Guangdong to study Taoism.

He selected a 54-year-old boy, Jin Fan, as the examiner in Nanhai and Shu Fan counties. Soon, Jin Fan passed the juren exam again, but he was ecstatic and woke up to find that her husband was a butcher. Fan Mu also died of joy. Persuaded by the squire Zhang Jingyi, Fan Jinnai followed him to the autumn wind in Feng Tang, and became a house master and magistrate in Gaoyao. When they were waiting to see the Tang county magistrate, the squire came again. Yan was accused of going to the county because she was rampant in the village.

Unexpectedly, the magistrate of a county in Tang was allowed to go out of the mountain, and Yan had to avoid the provincial capital. The county sent someone to find his brother, Guo-zi-jian diploma Yan Dayu. Yan Jiansheng was timid and found Yu Wangshengde and two uncles to go to court. Soon, Yan Jiansheng's wife, Wang, was seriously ill and spent a lot of money to help her two uncles straighten Aunt Zhao. Then Wang died.

The wedding and funeral cost a total of four or five thousand two hundred pieces of silver. Yan Jiansheng is very dull and angry, and he has a chronic disease, so that he can't afford to get sick. Since then, Aunt Zhao's only son has died, and Yan seized his brother's property and started a lawsuit.

Extended data:

"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 from generation to generation and was highly praised by later generations. Lu Xun believes that the ideological content of the book is "upholding public interests and criticizing the disadvantages of the times", and Hu Shi believes that its artistic characteristics can be called "refinement".

In international sinology, this book has a great influence. It has been handed down in English, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Spanish and other languages for a long time and is praised by sinologists. Some people think that The Scholars is one of the masterpieces of world literature, comparable to the works of Boccaccio, Cervantes, Balzac or Dickens, and an outstanding contribution to world literature.