One of the requirements for my Chinese language minor was a Chinese literature course. A very important aspect of learning a language is learning about the culture and history of the people and their language. Literature is a great way to understand both the usage of a language and the way it is developed and constructed. 

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China has a great history of literature, both the tradition of oral storytelling and written novels. The focus of this course was the period of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when vernacular fiction was developing.

 

The Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature are a perfect example of this development of pre-modern vernacular fiction and how literature can have such a profound effect on language and culture. The four works are: The Water Margin (also commonly known as The Outlaws of the Marsh), The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, and Dream of the Red Chamber. 

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Of these four epic novels, this class covered the first two extensively, with references to the other two, as well as numerous short stories and excerpts from other classics. All four of the classics are well known to almost all Chinese, whether by direct study or through the various interpretations of them, in opera, plays, cinema, games, and other pop culture media. 

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Having read and studied some of these incredibly important and influential Chinese works, I feel I have a much better grasp on the Chinese language and culture.