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（蓝皮）国学 七侠五义 (中国古典小说名著丛书)
“七侠”指南侠展昭、北侠欧阳春，双侠丁兆兰、丁兆蕙，以及小侠艾虎、黑妖狐智化、小诸葛沈仲元，“五义”即“五鼠”：钻天鼠卢方、彻地鼠韩彰、穿山鼠徐庆、翻江鼠蒋平、锦毛鼠白玉堂。这些如雷贯耳的英名，加之五鼠闹东京、智定军山等脍炙人口的掌故，杂以栩栩如生的北宋风俗，威风凛凛的包公断案，其乐融融的展昭娶亲，令人流连忘返，不忍释卷。
- GenresChina
587 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1879
9 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
About the author
石玉昆
19 books清代著名评话艺术家。约公元一八五六年前后在世，字振之，号问竹主人，天津（今天津）人，生卒年及生平事迹均不详，约清文宗咸丰中前后在世。他是北方著名之评话家，善讲《忠烈侠义传》，原稿有三千余篇。其后经人编为小说，成《三侠五义》一百二十回，《小五义》一百二十四回，《续小五义传》一百二十四回，先后出世。《三侠五义》又经俞樾之改编，名为《七侠五义》，辞句较雅洁，但《小五义》等多杂方言，不脱评话家本色，实校改本之《七侠五义》为胜。被誉为“单弦之祖”。...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 28, 2013
Heroes of the world, unite!
Most of the older Chinese novels are admittedly episodic. Some are loosely connected, as 儒林外史 (The Scholars), others more tightly knit, as 水浒传 (The Marshes of Mount Liang). But, while the episodes of the great classics begin to coalesce into a greater whole, 七俠五義 ("Seven Heroes and Five Gallants") remains piecemeal. The novel's origin, a prompt book for a famous story teller, is extremely apparent on all levels - most of the presented scenes don't have anything to do with the other scenes and the only common feature is a protagonist wandering from one place to another. A new scene then introduces new characters, which will be forgotten in the next scene - or they appear dozens of chapters later suddenly out of the nowhere with flimsy excuses, as if China only had 20 inhabitants. The writing style leaves much to be desired: choppy sentences, often without subordinate clauses, very prosaic in general. You get the feeling that you're reading a summary of a novel instead of the novel itself, and that takes a lot of the fun away. Maybe it's the translation that ruins the text.
The first third of the book tells the story of the famous and revered Judge Bao on his way from unloved child to Prime Minister of China. The second third then recounts the adventures of the "Five Gallants", the Rat brothers, and of the "Seven Heroes" wandering around getting in and out of messes. The final third is about the suppression of the Prince of Xiangyang's planned revolt by the combined might of the 12 heroes - Judge Bao is forgotten after chapter 27 or so. As in many old Chinese texts, the chapters are not semantic units - an episode usually begins and ends in the middle of a chapter.
The chapters themselves are very short, often between 1 and 3 pages, longer in the first set of scenes, shorter in the later. Regardless of the shortness, each chapter gets its own chapter heading on a page of its own, and with even more additional white space at the beginning and ending of each chapter. I like white space, but that really stretches it and is annoying for the reader. The used paper is of mixed quality, sometimes smooth, sometimes awkwardly scratchy, but always extremely thin and very translucent. The binding is very strong, forcing you to force the book open to be able to read the inner text parts. Many typographic errors and strange wording let me have doubts about the quality of the editors (who have been treated to a picture and CV on the flaps of the dust jacket). The positive: A readable introduction and a nicely designed dust jacket.
If you know the stories around Judge Bao, for example Exchanging A Leopard Cat For A Prince or Die Leiche im Strom, you do not really need to buy this book. Wuxia readers will be turned off by the sorry writing style, as mentioned above. Maybe I'm too harsh in my judgment, but ultimately, only die-hard Chinese literature fans like me will be able to savour this bit of Qing entertainment.
Most of the older Chinese novels are admittedly episodic. Some are loosely connected, as 儒林外史 (The Scholars), others more tightly knit, as 水浒传 (The Marshes of Mount Liang). But, while the episodes of the great classics begin to coalesce into a greater whole, 七俠五義 ("Seven Heroes and Five Gallants") remains piecemeal. The novel's origin, a prompt book for a famous story teller, is extremely apparent on all levels - most of the presented scenes don't have anything to do with the other scenes and the only common feature is a protagonist wandering from one place to another. A new scene then introduces new characters, which will be forgotten in the next scene - or they appear dozens of chapters later suddenly out of the nowhere with flimsy excuses, as if China only had 20 inhabitants. The writing style leaves much to be desired: choppy sentences, often without subordinate clauses, very prosaic in general. You get the feeling that you're reading a summary of a novel instead of the novel itself, and that takes a lot of the fun away. Maybe it's the translation that ruins the text.
The first third of the book tells the story of the famous and revered Judge Bao on his way from unloved child to Prime Minister of China. The second third then recounts the adventures of the "Five Gallants", the Rat brothers, and of the "Seven Heroes" wandering around getting in and out of messes. The final third is about the suppression of the Prince of Xiangyang's planned revolt by the combined might of the 12 heroes - Judge Bao is forgotten after chapter 27 or so. As in many old Chinese texts, the chapters are not semantic units - an episode usually begins and ends in the middle of a chapter.
The chapters themselves are very short, often between 1 and 3 pages, longer in the first set of scenes, shorter in the later. Regardless of the shortness, each chapter gets its own chapter heading on a page of its own, and with even more additional white space at the beginning and ending of each chapter. I like white space, but that really stretches it and is annoying for the reader. The used paper is of mixed quality, sometimes smooth, sometimes awkwardly scratchy, but always extremely thin and very translucent. The binding is very strong, forcing you to force the book open to be able to read the inner text parts. Many typographic errors and strange wording let me have doubts about the quality of the editors (who have been treated to a picture and CV on the flaps of the dust jacket). The positive: A readable introduction and a nicely designed dust jacket.
If you know the stories around Judge Bao, for example Exchanging A Leopard Cat For A Prince or Die Leiche im Strom, you do not really need to buy this book. Wuxia readers will be turned off by the sorry writing style, as mentioned above. Maybe I'm too harsh in my judgment, but ultimately, only die-hard Chinese literature fans like me will be able to savour this bit of Qing entertainment.
November 19, 2021
The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants is a story about kung fu fights and how there is a moral definition between each story. And it shows a fictional story and plot of Chinese warriors fighting and describing the setting and the story of their lives. I recommend this book for those who like books with fighting and lots of action.
May 9, 2009
Funny kung fu stories. Not a difficult plot, and not saying anything of real importance, but fun and a neat view into old chinese ideas.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews