There are three masterpieces that once ranked alongside the four masterpieces. What are they?

When talking about Chinese classical classics, many people can blurt out that they are the Four Great Masters. In fact, the four great classics are not the only ones that have been handed down in history. There are three other classics that were once ranked alongside the Four Great Masters. Historically known as the Seven Great Classics.

These three famous works are "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", "The Scholars" and "The Plum in the Golden Lotus". In fact, everyone is very familiar with these three books, but few people know that they are also three masterpieces as famous as the four masterpieces.

In particular, "Jin Ping Mei" can be described as a sexual enlightenment book for young men in the early years. Although "Jin Ping Mei" has some vulgar and explicit descriptions, it also has high artistic value. "A Dream of Red Mansions" inherited many things from "Jin Ping Mei" to become a great work. "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" and "The Scholars" also set many precedents in creation.

So, why are these three books excluded from the classics? In fact, this has a lot to do with the content of the books and the historical environment.

In fact, people in ancient times were particularly obsessed with the word "four". In their early years, they made: four great inventions, four great beauties, four great beauties, four great sons, etc., all closely related to this "four" character.

Some great scholars and historians felt that when they ranked the seven masterpieces, the word "seven" was not easy to pronounce. So, after some discussion, some great scholars decided to keep the four best masterpieces and despise the three. This is a masterpiece that is relatively unaccepted by the mainstream. In this way, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, The Scholars, and The Golden Lotus were excluded from the classics for various reasons, leaving only Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dream of Red Mansions, and Journey to the West.

Of course, in addition to these objective reasons, subjective reasons cannot be ignored. There are indeed many things in these abandoned books that are not conducive to the rule of the feudal class. In short, in these few books There are some harmful contents that can easily mislead young people.

"Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" is too weird and can easily have a negative impact on the psychology of young people. At the same time, it is not friendly to the ruling class.

This book seems to be a book about mountain spirits and ghosts. In fact, if you read the content in depth, you will find that the things in it are not only folk supernatural stories, but also the author uses this to The ghosts are used to compare some unfair phenomena today.

The monster that eats people and skins them is actually a satire on some treacherous ministers and cruel officials in the society at that time. The administration of the Qing Dynasty was actually very harsh, and the ideological suppression of the people was also very serious, which also made the people dare not think wildly. It is said that it severely suppresses people's thinking power.

At that time, society brought human feudal dogmatism to its extreme. Pu Songling did not dare to speak directly about society or the court, so he could only use these mountain spirits and ghosts to describe some bad phenomena within the court.

Is Pu Songling really talking about the relationship between people and ghosts when talking about the relationship between people and ghosts? In fact, no, he is talking about the distance and indifference between people. People are more terrifying than ghosts. , getting along with people is not as good as getting along with ghosts. Although ghosts are also evil, they are not as sinister as living people after all. On the contrary, there are some kind and sincere ghosts.

When Pu Songling tells ghost stories, he always uses puns. After "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" came out, it also caused a stir in China. Many readers are attracted by this novel story. After satisfying their curiosity, many people even refer to it as the most classic novel.

Unfortunately, this book was not recognized by the government. The Qing court also felt that this book was class-rebellious and provocative to the imperial power, so it dismissed the book as too shocking and harmful to the physical and mental health of young people. , not conducive to reading and other reasons, this book was restricted.

Although "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" was restricted by the government, people still bought it. This book was very popular due to its bizarre story and good writing style. The main reason why it was not included in the list of masterpieces was that it was not officially accepted.

The reason why "The Scholars" is not ranked among the famous books is mainly because the book is too satirical and exposes many corruption phenomena in imperial examinations, social corruption, and promotions. Too many.

It is undeniable that "The Scholars" is also an excellent book. The author Wu Jingzi is also a man of temperament. The protagonists in his works are all scholars who are driven crazy step by step by the system, customs, and feudal ethics. This book is not as famous as the four famous classics, nor as famous as "The Plum in the Golden Ping" and "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio". But this book is very suitable for readers.

The meaning of this book is to tell readers not to study hard, not to pursue fame and gain too much, and not to be obsessed with things that are impossible to achieve. Doing so will only waste decades of time. The official neither restricts nor promotes this book, but the influence of this book is not as good as several other books. It is normal for it to be excluded from the Four Great Classics.

Let’s go back and talk about "Jin Ping Mei". This is a magical book, the dream of countless men, but it has been resisted by the mainstream.

Whether it is in terms of writing techniques or conceptual connotation, "Jin Ping Mei" is worthy of the title of a rare book through the ages, and is even more famous than the four great classics. However, the book talks about romantic affairs and is too explicit and open, which directly impacts the feudal etiquette of ancient women. At the same time, the book contains a large number of descriptions of sexual intercourse between men and women. This book was directly designated as a banned book by the ruling class. The rulers ordered it to be banned from circulation. Naturally, the people did not dare to list it as a famous book.

Although the book Jin Ping Mei was banned, many scholars would secretly buy a few copies and read them secretly in the dead of night. This shows the charm of this book.

So, do you know the specific reasons why these three books cannot be included in the four major classics? Welcome everyone to exchange ideas.