Romance of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Volume 1 and 2

Author: Lian Keru
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Lian Keru is a renowned artist in the field of storytelling, with his own unique performance style. In the late 1930s, he delivered the serial story Romance of the Eastern Han Dynasty on Beijing's Boliwei Radio Station, earning the fame of "In every household, they listen to Lian Keru's storytelling; the streets and alleys are quiet." The book has a rigorous structure, showcasing the techniques and methods of a classical chaptered novel. Especially in the setup of suspense, it is exceptionally clever, leaving readers unable to put it down. At the same time, it is a masterpiece of Lian-style storytelling, with delicate storytelling, focusing on the detailed portrayal of scenes, leaving readers with a lingering aftertaste. The spoken version of this book was serialized in Liyan Illustrated Magazine in the 1930s. After revision and organization, it is now republished. While making necessary revisions, it strives to maintain the original form of the storytelling script to delight readers. Romance of the Eastern Han Dynasty is the representative work of the famous storytelling artist Lian Keru (1903-1971). This book is revised and organized by his daughter, Lian Liru, based on the spoken version of Eastern Han Dynasty serialized in Liyan Illustrated Magazine in the 1930s. Considering the preservation of the script's writing style and colloquial features while adapting to modern readers' reading habits, necessary revisions were made during publication:
1. Revised the layout. The original text was in traditional vertical characters with dense spacing and small font size, making it difficult to read. It is now converted to simplified horizontal characters with modern punctuation and appropriately enlarged font size.
2. Reorganized the chapter titles and added subheadings. Based on the characteristics of classical chaptered novels, the book now has seventy chapters, with two four-character titles added at the beginning of each chapter to summarize its content.
3. The original text did not divide paragraphs naturally, with one chapter being one paragraph; it is now reorganized based on plot changes.
4. Added character illustrations before the main text. The editorial team specially invited a comic book painter to create the illustrations.
5. Corrected printing errors.