Shi Nai'an Books
Shi Nai'an was a Chinese novelist from Xinghua, Jiangsu, active during the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. He is traditionally credited as the author of Water Margin, one of China's Four Great Classical Novels.
Known for: The Four Great Classical Novels of China (Chinese Edition), Water Margin
Books by Shi Nai'an
The Four Great Classical Novels of China (Chinese Edition)
The Four Great Classical Novels of China comprise Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Dream of the Red Chamber, and Journey to the West. These works represent the pinnacle of classical Chines...
Water Margin
Water Margin, also known as Outlaws of the Marsh or All Men Are Brothers, is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature and one of the most influential stories ever written about reb...
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Part I: Romance of the Three Kingdoms — The Epic of Strategy and Loyalty
In *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, Luo Guanzhong paints the turbulent epoch of the late Eastern Han dynasty, when the empire lay in ruins under the weight of corruption and rebellion. From this chaos emerged heroes whose aspirations shaped an entire era of strife and glory. The novel begins with a ...
From The Four Great Classical Novels of China (Chinese Edition)
Part II: Water Margin — The Rebellion of Justice and Brotherhood
Shi Nai’an’s *Water Margin* moves from imperial courts to the marshes, from the refined to the raw. Here, the heroes are not noble lords or strategists but men and women cast aside by society — bandits, soldiers, monks, and wanderers who find freedom and dignity in defiance. Set during the Song dyna...
From The Four Great Classical Novels of China (Chinese Edition)
Corrupt Rule Creates the Conditions for Revolt
A society rarely collapses because of one villain; it breaks when corruption becomes ordinary. That is one of the foundational insights of Water Margin. The late Northern Song world depicted in the novel is outwardly civilized, yet inwardly decayed. Officials enrich themselves, manipulate law for pr...
From Water Margin
Personal Injustice Turns Ordinary Men Into Heroes
Heroes are often created not by ambition, but by injury. Water Margin gives many of its central figures a moment of rupture in which the world they trusted turns against them. Lin Chong is one of the clearest examples: a skilled military instructor whose life is destroyed through false accusation an...
From Water Margin
Liangshan Marsh Becomes a Moral Refuge
Sometimes the edge of society becomes the place where human dignity is rebuilt. Liangshan Marsh is more than a hiding place for fugitives; it is an alternative community formed by people cast out by a corrupt order. In the novel, the marsh functions as both physical refuge and symbolic counterstate....
From Water Margin
Song Jiang Embodies Leadership and Contradiction
Great leaders often unite people not because they are simple, but because they contain tension. Song Jiang, one of the novel’s central figures, exemplifies this complexity. He is admired for generosity, emotional intelligence, political awareness, and devotion to brotherhood. He earns trust because ...
From Water Margin
About Shi Nai'an
Shi Nai'an was a Chinese novelist from Xinghua, Jiangsu, active during the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. He is traditionally credited as the author of Water Margin, one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. His works are known for their realistic depiction of social life and pioneering use o...
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Shi Nai'an was a Chinese novelist from Xinghua, Jiangsu, active during the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. He is traditionally credited as the author of Water Margin, one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. His works are known for their realistic depiction of social life and pioneering use o...
Shi Nai'an was a Chinese novelist from Xinghua, Jiangsu, active during the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. He is traditionally credited as the author of Water Margin, one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. His works are known for their realistic depiction of social life and pioneering use of vernacular language.
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Shi Nai'an was a Chinese novelist from Xinghua, Jiangsu, active during the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. He is traditionally credited as the author of Water Margin, one of China's Four Great Classical Novels.
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