Why were three of the "Seven Great Classics" changed to "Four Great Classics" deleted?

In the past, there were seven famous works in the history of Chinese literature, including Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West, Water Margins, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Scholars. However, as time passed, this saying was gradually forgotten by people. In the end, only Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West, and Water Margins were left. Among them, Water Margins was considered one of the most influential novels in the history of Chinese literature. However, there were some problems with its content, so some content was deleted in history, resulting in only 108 words. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Scholars were deleted because some of the political content was not suitable for the social atmosphere at that time. Therefore, it could be said that Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West, and Water Margins were the "Four Great Masterpieces" in the history of Chinese literature.

In the past, there were seven famous works in the history of Chinese literature, namely Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West, Water Margins, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Scholars, and Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. However, with the passage of time, this saying was gradually forgotten by people. In the end, only four works, Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West, Water Margins, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, remained as classics in the history of Chinese literature. Among them, the Water Margins and Romance of the Three Kingdoms had undergone great changes in the later historical development and became legends in history. The Scholars was criticized for its overly pessimistic and negative remarks. In addition, its plot was more complicated and not suitable for reading as a novel. Thus, The Scholars was gradually deleted. As for 'Dream of the Red Chamber', because the plot of the novel was too complicated, it needed more in-depth research to understand, so it became a classic masterpiece in the history of Chinese literature. It was also adapted into many art forms such as opera, movies, and television dramas.

In the past, the Chinese literary world once proposed the concept of "seven masterpieces", which was widely used in the 1950s. However, in the 1980s, the concept of the "Four Great Masterpieces" appeared in the Chinese literary world and gradually became widely accepted. As for why the "Four Great Classics" were deleted, one explanation was that they were not official literary classics but were recommended as must-see literary works on certain occasions. However, their content was somewhat old and not attractive enough. In addition, there were some problems in the writing process of some works in the "Four Great Masterpieces". For example, there was a serious plagiarism problem in "Dream of the Red Chamber". Therefore, in the 1980s, the Chinese literary world re-examined and reviewed the "Four Great Masterpieces" and finally deleted some works. However, the "Seven Great Masterpieces" and "Four Great Masterpieces" were both classics in the history of Chinese literature. They played an important role in understanding the history of Chinese literature and Chinese culture.

I'm not a fan of online literature. I'm a person who likes to read novels. I aim to answer all kinds of questions, but I don't have the ability to browse the web. Regarding the issue of the "Seven Great Classics" becoming "Four Great Classics", this change may have different explanations due to different sources and perspectives. But generally speaking, the "Four Great Classics" referred to "Dream of the Red Chamber,""Journey to the West,""Water Margins" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms." Because of their extremely high status and influence in Chinese culture, they were widely regarded as the pinnacle of ancient Chinese novels. As for why three novels were deleted, there might be different reasons and explanations. One theory was that only Dream of the Red Chamber was officially included in the original "Seven Masterpieces" project. The other novels were not accepted because they caused some controversy and criticism in society at that time. Another theory is that the original names of Journey to the West and Water Margins were not "Journey to the West" and "Water Margins" but another novel. However, due to various reasons, their original names were not adopted and could only be circulated in the name of "Journey to the West" and "Water Margins". These were just some possible explanations. The specific reasons still needed to be analyzed in the context of historical and cultural backgrounds.

This question was related to a historical event in the history of Chinese literature, namely the process of the "Seven Famous Books" becoming the "Four Famous Books". At the beginning of the 20th century, the Chinese writer Lu Xun and others criticized the Chinese classical novels and proposed the concept of "Four Great Masterpieces", namely "Dream of the Red Chamber","Journey to the West","Water Margins" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". This concept caused widespread discussion and controversy at the time. However, as time went on, people began to find that the "Four Great Masterpieces" were not enough to represent the highest level of Chinese classical novels, so they proposed the "Four Great Masterpieces", namely "The Scholars","Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio","Flowers in the Mirror" and "Miserable World". In the end, Miserable World, Flowers in the Mirror, and Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio were considered to be more important works outside of the Four Great Masterpieces, while Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West, and Water Margins became the Four Great Masterpieces. In this process, the reason why the "Four Great Classics" became "Four Great Classics" was mainly because they had a high influence at that time, were widely circulated and studied, and were regarded as one of the classics of Chinese literature. However, with the passage of time, people's aesthetic concepts and literary styles are constantly changing. Therefore, the "four great masterpieces" are not a constant concept, nor should they be limited to the scope of the time.

Dream of the Red Chamber was a masterpiece of Chinese classical literature, and was hailed as a classic in the history of Chinese literature. It was published in 1877 by the Qing Dynasty.

The Four Great Classics referred to the four classic works of Chinese classical novels. They were Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West, Water Margins, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The reasons why these four works became classics of Chinese classical novels were as follows: 1. Unique plots and characters: Dream of the Red Chamber depicted the rise and fall of a family with the aristocratic society as the background; Journey to the West described the journey of Tang Sanzang and his three disciples to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures with the mythical story as the background; Water Margins described the resistance and sacrifice of a group of righteous men with the peasant uprising as the background; Romance of the Three Kingdoms described the political struggles and vivid images of historical figures during the period of the Three Kingdoms. 2. Profound thoughts and cultural implications: Dream of the Red Chamber explored social class, human nature, love, marriage and other issues through the description of aristocratic life; Journey to the West expressed issues about justice, courage, faith and other aspects through mythical stories; Water Margins emphasized loyalty, loyalty, faith and other issues through the description of righteous people's struggles; Romance of the Three Kingdoms discussed history, human nature, morality and other issues through the description of war and political struggles. 3. Spread widely and have great influence: Dream of the Red Chamber is regarded as the pinnacle of Chinese classical novels and the treasure of Chinese culture; Journey to the West is widely read and becomes an important part of Chinese culture; Water Margins and Romance of the Three Kingdoms also have a wide spread and far-reaching influence. To sum up, the reason why the four masterpieces became the classics of Chinese classical novels was because of their unique plots and characters, profound thoughts and cultural implications, as well as their widespread and great influence.

The Four Great Classics referred to the four classic novels in the history of Chinese literature. They were Journey to the West by the Ming Dynasty novelist Wu Chengen, Dream of the Red Chamber by the Qing Dynasty novelist Cao Xueqin, Water Margins by the Yuan Dynasty novelist Shi Naian, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms by the Qing Dynasty novelist Jin Shengtan. These four novels were all classics in the history of Chinese literature and were hailed as the treasures of Chinese culture. Each of them represented different literary schools and cultural backgrounds, with extremely high artistic value and cultural implications. "Journey to the West" described the characters such as Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Monk Sha based on myths and legends, which reflected the folk myths and Taoist culture of ancient China."Dream of the Red Chamber" described the characters such as Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai based on the social life of nobles, which reflected the ethics and female status of ancient feudal society. The Heroes of the Marsh used the heroes of the Heroes of the Marsh as the main characters to describe the resistance of 108 righteous thieves, reflecting the class struggle and sense of justice in ancient Chinese society. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms used the history of the Three Kingdoms period as the background to describe the road to hegemony of historical figures such as Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan, reflecting the changes in ancient Chinese political culture. They are called the four masterpieces because these four novels have a very high status and influence in Chinese culture. Not only do they occupy an important position in the history of Chinese literature, but they also have a wide impact on the world. They are known as treasures in the treasure house of world literature.

Sorry, I'm not a fan of online literature. I'm just a person who likes to read novels and can't get the latest online literature knowledge. As for why the Seven Great Classics became Four Great Classics, I'm not a professional and can't provide an accurate answer. However, according to the general understanding, the "seven famous novels" referred to the classic works of Chinese classical novels, while the "four famous novels" referred to the four classic novels that first appeared in 1959, namely "Dream of the Red Chamber","Journey to the West","Water Margins" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". This change might be due to the needs of the political and cultural environment at that time, as well as the aesthetic trends of readers and cultural groups.

The Four Great Classics referred to the four classic works of Chinese classical novels: Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West, Water Margins, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. These four works all had high literary value and influence, and were regarded as classics in the history of Chinese literature. The author of 'Dream of the Red Chamber' was from the Qing Dynasty. He used the love story of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, and others as the main line to describe the rise and fall of a feudal family. The author of Journey to the West was the Ming Dynasty novelist Wu Chengen. He used the adventures of Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Monk Sand as the main line to describe a mythical world. The author of " Water Margins " was from the Yuan Dynasty. He used Song Jiang, Lin Chong, and the others 'struggles as the main line to describe a dark and cruel social reality. The author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms was from the Yuan Dynasty. He used the history of the Three Kingdoms period as the main line to describe a historical period where heroes came forth in large numbers and wars were frequent. These four works were called the Four Great Classics mainly because of their complicated plots, rich characters, profound cultural heritage, high artistic value and influence, and were widely read and studied. At the same time, these four works also represented the four aspects of ancient Chinese literature: novels, operas, poems, and essays.