Romance of the Eastern Zhou States

Author: (Ming) Feng Menglong / (Qing) Cai Yuanfang (editors)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1996-07-01
Features: The Story of the Warring States is a historical novel, with a total of 108 chapters, narrating most of the historical stories during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods over more than 500 years. According to the materials we know, as early as the Yuan Dynasty, there were some popular tales about the "Warring States." During the Jiajing and Longqing eras of the Ming Dynasty, Yu Shaoyu compiled a Chronicles of the Warring States, which still exists in editions published during the Wanli era (as cited in Sun Jiaodi's Catalog of Popular Fiction in China). In the late Ming Dynasty, Wu Feng Menglong (styled Youlong, also known as Mo Han Shi) revised the Chronicles of the Warring States based on historical records, removing several stories popular among the people at the time, such as "Qin Aigong's Battle for Treasure at Lintong," and "revised and expanded" it into the 108-chapter New Chronicles of the Warring States (as cited in the preface by Wu Ke Guan Dao Ren Xiao Ya Shi and Sun Jiaodi's Catalog of Popular Fiction in China). During the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty, another edition of The Story of the Warring States (hereinafter referred to as the "Commentary Edition") was published by Ma Ling Cai Yuanfang (named Jie, styled Qi Du Meng Fu, and Ye Yun Master), who added extensive "comments" and "annotations" promoting feudal orthodox thought. Beyond these additions, the "Commentary Edition" only made minor revisions to the original New Chronicles of the Warring States (hereinafter referred to as the "New Chronicle"). Many of these revisions were correct and necessary, while others were wrong and unnecessary. Moreover, places in the "New Chronicle" where the text was contradictory or contained printing errors were not corrected in the "Commentary Edition," which continued to propagate these mistakes. The preface (Ke Guan Dao Ren's preface), general notes, and maps of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods from the "New Chronicle" were also retained at the beginning of the book.