The Scholars has a main content of 50 words.

Main contents: Describe the activities and mental outlook of intellectuals, officials and gentry in the late feudal society. Although the story of the book has no backbone, there is one center that runs through it, that is, it reflects the poison of the imperial examination system and feudal ethics, and satirizes the extreme hypocrisy and social bad habits caused by greed for fame and fortune.

The Scholars is a novel of Wu in Qing Dynasty. It was written in the 14th year of Qianlong (1749) or earlier, and it was handed down as a manuscript, which was first engraved in the 8th year of Jiaqing (1803).

Wu (1701-1754), whose real name is Wenmu, is one of the greatest novelists in Qing Dynasty. Han nationality, from Quanjiao County, Chuzhou City, Anhui Province. Because there is a "Wenmu Mountain Residence" at home, he called himself "Wenmu Old Man" in his later years, and because he moved from his hometown in Quanjiao County, Chuzhou, Anhui Province to Qinhuai River in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, he was also called "Qinhuai Guest" (the existing preface to Lanting Collection of Wu bears the seal of "Quanjiao Wuliang").

Young, smart and good at remembering. A little longer, make up the formal disciple. Jing You's Selected Works, Cheng. I am not good at treating students, and my nature is heroic. In a few years, I have squandered all my old products, and sometimes I can't even eat.

The Scholars, an expanded material, represents the peak of China's ancient satirical novels and creates an example of directly evaluating real life with novels.

After the manuscript of The Scholars was published, a manuscript was handed down from generation to generation and was highly praised by later generations. Lu Xun believes that the ideological content of the book is "upholding public interests and criticizing the disadvantages of the times", and Hu Shi believes that its artistic characteristics can be called "refinement".

In international sinology, this book has a great influence. It has been handed down in English, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Spanish and other languages for a long time and is praised by sinologists. Some people think that The Scholars is one of the masterpieces of world literature, comparable to the works of Boccaccio, Cervantes, Balzac or Dickens, and an outstanding contribution to world literature.

The fifty-six chapters of the book depict different expressions of "fame and fortune" by various people in a realistic way. On the one hand, it truly reveals the process and reasons of human nature being corroded, thus profoundly criticizing and mocking the corruption of bureaucracy and the hypocrisy of imperial examinations at that time.

On the one hand, it enthusiastically praised the protection of human nature by a few characters in a self-centered way, thus embodying the author's ideal. The use of vernacular Chinese in the novel is becoming more and more skillful, and the characterization of characters is also quite in-depth and delicate, especially the superb satirical techniques, which makes this book a masterpiece of China's classical satirical literature.

References:

Scholar-Baidu Encyclopedia