Romance of the Eastern Zhou States

Author: Feng Menglong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: The Story of the Warring States is a renowned historical novel in China's classical literary treasury. As early as the Yuan Dynasty, there were vernacular versions of stories about the "Warring States." During the Jiajing and Longqing periods of the Ming Dynasty, Yu Shaoyu compiled The Story of the Warring States. In the late Ming Dynasty, Feng Menglong revised and refined The Story of the Warring States based on historical records, transforming it into a 108-chapter New Story of the Warring States. In the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty, Cai Yuanfang further revised the book, naming it The Story of the Warring States in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The Story of the Warring States depicts the history from the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty (789 BC) to the unification of the six states by Qin (221 BC), covering over 500 years of stories from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The content is rich and complex. The history narrated in The Story of the Warring States is precisely such an era, with all the stories unfolding against this backdrop. The facts described in the book are sourced from four historical works: The Strategies of the Warring States, Zuo Zhuan, The Records of the States, and Records of the Grand Historian. These scattered historical stories and biographies are woven together in chronological order, creating a structurally complete historical romance.
Before the Qin and Han dynasties, some historians, for certain ideological reasons, sometimes omitted the narration and evaluation of historical events, hiding their meanings in the text. Without a keen insight, it was difficult to notice, let alone understand. The popular aspect of this book lies in making the hidden meanings clear, so that everyone can see and understand at a glance. All kinds of right and wrong, virtue and vice, loyalty and treachery, wisdom and folly are laid bare under the open sky. This is the author's intention in writing the book and their contribution to later generations.
Like other historical works, The Story of the Warring States takes the rise and fall of nations as its theme, striving to explore the causal relationships between the rise and decline of fate and the success or failure of human affairs. Through the rise and fall of characters' destinies, the author vividly tells people that whether a nation can uphold righteousness and appoint the capable is the fundamental basis for judging its future. He who wins the people wins the world. Righteousness is the elucidation of the will of heaven, and the will of heaven is the will of the people. When the people's will remains, the government thrives; when it fades, the government declines. This humanistic perspective holds progressive significance.
Over the 500 years depicted in the book, heroes emerged one after another, like a brilliant constellation. Centuries later, though many such figures appeared, the people and events of this period stood out the most in history, becoming the most prominent and most typical prototypes. They were almost the source of the theories of right and wrong, success and failure for later generations, as well as the standards and role models for their actions and conduct. Through rich and vivid plots, the novel praises the virtuous people, the rulers who reward and punish fairly, and the emperors and feudal lords with broad minds, as well as the loyal and wise generals. It also admires the brave and resourceful heroes who act bravely for justice. In stark contrast to these positive characters, the novel also portrays some foolish, cruel, and licentious emperors and feudal lords, as well as greedy, treacherous, and cunning courtiers. The author's attitude of exposing and condemning them is naturally integrated into the progression of the plot.