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Soon after the publication of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there was a grand occasion of "gentlemen and good people vying to copy it" ("Foolish: Preface to the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms"). In the first year of Jiajing (1522), the earliest popular woodcut Romance of the Three Kingdoms appeared. Since then, various prints have emerged one after another for hundreds of years. Until today, there are more than 20 kinds of prints in Ming Dynasty and more than 70 kinds in Qing Dynasty. It can be said that the number of versions of the Three Kingdoms is unparalleled in ancient novels.
Among so many versions of the Three Kingdoms, which version is more important? To answer this question, we need to classify many versions first. From the version form, the version of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms can be roughly divided into three systems:
1. Popular romance of the Three Kingdoms system. In addition to the above-mentioned engraving of the Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the first year of Jiajing (hereinafter referred to as "the first year of Jiajing"), it also includes the school-based school in Zhou Yue of Jinling in the 19th year of Wanli (159 1) and the new school-based school (hereinafter referred to as "Zhou Yue school-based school").
2. Biography of the Three Kingdoms System. Including Biography of the Three Kingdoms published by Ye Fengchun in Jianyang in the 27th year of Jiajing (1548), Biography of the Three Kingdoms published by Xiangdou in the 20th year of Wanli (1592), and Biography of the Three Kingdoms published by Xiangdou in the 38th year of Wanli (16 10).
3. Mao Zonggang and his son revised the system of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (hereinafter referred to as "Mao Ben"). The original name of Mao Ben was "the first of the four musts", and later it was called "the first book of gifted scholars". There are more than 70 kinds of Three Kingdoms records in Qing Dynasty, most of which belong to the system of rough printing.
In addition, there are several transitional versions, the most representative of which is Li Zhuowu's Criticism of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (hereinafter referred to as "Comments on Li Zhuowu"). From Zhou Yue School-based or Xia Zhenyu's, it is also the version basis of Mao Ben.
On the basis of classification, we can say that the most important editions of Romance of the Three Kingdoms are: Jiajing first edition, school-based edition, Xia Zhenyu edition, biography of the Three Kingdoms, commentary edition and Mao edition.
After the May 4th Movement, new punctuation printing appeared gradually. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the most popular edition is People's Literature Publishing House. On the basis of the rough version, it deleted Shi Mao's comments, corrected some mistakes, and added some notes to become a better general version. However, due to the limitation of the research level in the past, there are still many "technical errors" in the collating edition of People's Literature Publishing House, including textual errors, geographical errors, official errors, calendar errors and other types of errors. Nevertheless, it is still the most popular version.
Since 1980s, many publishing houses have published the printed version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. However, after careful sorting, the edition with academic value is only a part of it. Readers may wish to pay attention to the following points:
1. Romance of the Three Kingdoms: annotated by Wu Xiaolin, revised by Chen Erdong, first edition of Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House, April 1986. On the basis of the edition compiled by People's Literature Publishing House, it made further collation, corrected some mistakes and added many notes to make it easier for ordinary readers to read.
2. Collation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms: collation by Shen Bojun, first edition of Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House in February 1992, sixth printing in September 1995. Based on the rough edition, delete the rough comments, focus on correcting a large number of "technical errors" in the book, and list the "technical errors" in turn in the form of collation table, point out the errors, put forward the correction opinions, and explain the basis for correction; At the same time, comment on what readers don't know or what is specious, and explain it in simple terms, giving people a new understanding. This book has high academic value and is highly praised by academic circles and readers. It is considered as the best proofreading book so far.
3. Collated version of Mao's Romance of the Three Kingdoms: edited by Shen Bojun, Zhongzhou Ancient Books Publishing House, first edition in August 1992. Carding wool version for the first time, correcting a lot of "technical mistakes", and systematically discussing several basic problems about wool version, which has high academic value.
4. Jiajing Edition Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms: edited by Shen Bojun, Huashan Literature and Art Publishing House, first edition in May 1993, second edition in October 1998. It is the first collating book with academic significance since the publication of Jiajing edition, which corrects a lot of "technical mistakes" and makes concise comments. This book has high academic value, which helps to clarify some long-standing misconceptions and is beneficial to both professional researchers and general readers.
5. Mr. Li Zhuowu's Comments on the Collated Texts of the Three Kingdoms: Proofreading by Shen Bojun and Ye Li, first edition of Bashu Bookstore 19 93 1 1. It is the first research-based collation of Comments on Li Zhuowu, which corrects a large number of "technical mistakes", makes detailed comments, and comprehensively discusses the authenticity, origin, characteristics and contribution of Comments on Li Zhuowu, which has high academic value.
6. Zhou Yue's school magazine "Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was edited by Liu and Guan Siping, the first edition of Northern Literature and Art Publishing House in June 1994. It is the first punctuation typesetting of "Zhou Yue School-based", and the proofreading takes "preserving the truth" as the main principle, which basically maintains the original appearance of the text. Because Zhou Yue School-based adds some plots to Jia Jing's book, and the original is difficult to read, this book is of great academic value.
In addition, Mr. Zhong Bojing is also of great reference value to Criticism of the Three Kingdoms edited by Li Lingnian and Wang Changyou (published by Huangshan Bookstore) and Criticism of the Three Kingdoms edited by Li Liweng (published by Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House).