The earliest of these seems to have been the "Lich Kuo," or "Various Realms," a popular history of the Feudal States of China, from the oth to the 3rd century B.C., by a scholarly man who makes his historical characters live and move and talk, and play their part in the reader's presence. This extension of history wag followed eventually by the work of a man of constructive genius, dealing with the Three Realms period, the Chinese "Wars of the Roses," of the ard century A.D, With a background of multitudinous details, his leading characters shine forth' possessed of personalities as real as any of Shakespeare's, and almost as any: of Dickens'.
Now here wag a wonderful innovation. Up to the period of the Mongol dynasty, there had doubtless been popular raconteurs with their pungent stories for tea-shop audiences, but here is the new phenomenon of scholarly men stooping to cater for the new demand, by becoming themselves raconteurs on paper.
The success of these two works was huge. And as their combined bulk is equal to that of the Old Testament with the Gospels added, the old-fashioned scholar might imagine that the reading public would now be satisfied; but the livelier folks of China, brought up on weak tea unsugared, having now tasted the wine of popular genius, said with avidity: "Thanks. Give us wore!" And so, various periods of. collapsing dynasties were laid under tribute for prose epics of gross oppression, 6f more or less virtuous brigandage, of knight srrantry, with a climax of riches and honour in vho new dynasties these unconventional heroes helped to inaugurate.
Thus far, in lighter literature we have two classes: (1) of popularized history, with more or less fiction added thereto: (2) of chiva alrous exploits.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.