Luo Guanzhong

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Categories: Chinese novelists | Chinese historical novelists | Ming Dynasty

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Luo Guanzhong (traditional Chinese: 羅貫中; simplified Chinese: 罗贯中; pinyin: Luó Guànzhōng; Wade-Giles: Lo Kuan-chung, c. 1330-1400^[1]), born Luo Ben (罗本), was a Chinese author attributed with writing Romance of the Three Kingdoms and editing Water Margin, two of the most revered adventure epics in Chinese literature.

1 Identity
2 Works
3 Bibliography
4 References
5 References
6 External links

Identity

Luo Guanzhong is confirmed to have lived in the end of Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty by the contemporary record by Jia Zhongming (賈仲明), who met him in 1364. It tells that he was from Taiyuan, while literary historians suggests other possibilities about his home, including Hangzhou and Jiangnan. According to Meng Fanren (孟繁仁), Luo Guanzhong can be identified in the pedigree of the Luo family, and Taiyuan is most likely his home town.

Literary historians are not certain Shi Naian (see #Works) and Luo Guangzhong are the same person, or if the name was used as a pseudonym by the editor of Water Margin who did not want to be associated with any anti-government themes that might be found in this work.

Works

The stories of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin are presumed to have been developed by storytellers. The first editor who assembled Water Margin is thought to be Shi Naian, while Luo Guanzhong the secondary editor who brought it to the current form of 100 chapters. Luo Guanzhong is attributed with Romance of the Three Kingdoms as the editor, although it is suggested that Shi Naian may also possibly be the editor.

Pingyao Zhuan (平妖傳) is a ghost story written by Luo Guanzhong with 20 chapters, developed from the original pieces of storytelling based on a rebellion at the end of Northern Song Dynasty, and later enlarged by Feng Menglong (馮夢龍) into 40 chapters. Can Tang Wudai Shi Yanzhuan (殘唐五代史演義傳) is a chronicle of the end of the Tang Dynasty and the following Five Dynasties period, a compilation of storytelling pices based on the rebel of Zhu Wen.

Bibliography

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Water Margin
Pingyao Zhuan (平妖傳)
Sansui Pingyao Zhuan (三遂平妖传)
Can Tang Wudai Shi Yanzhuan (残唐五代史演義, "The End of Tang Dynasty and the Period of the Five Dynasties")
Fenzhuang Lou (粉妝樓, "Cosmetical Building")
Sui Tang Zhizhuan (隋唐志傳)
Sui Tang Liangchao Zhizhuan (隋唐兩朝志傳, "The Chronicle of the Sui and Tang Dynasties)