The Theoretical Value Of Zhong Xing's Comment About "The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms"

Zhong Xing (1574—1625), styled Bojing, assumedly named Tuigu and Tuian, also named Lay Buddhist at Zhi Gong or Wan Zhi, with a religion name of Duancan, ancestral home in Jingling (Today's Tianmen county in Hubei province) is the leader of Jingling faction in Late Ming dynasty. The book"The Romance of The Three Kingdom Commented by Zhong Xing", with a former name of The History of the Three Kingdoms Criticized by Mr Zhong Bojing, whose print-time was later than Li Zhuowu's version and earlier than Mao Zonggang's, remains only one edition which is preserved only by Tokyo University and Chiba Library.Zhong Xing's commentaries were deeply rooted in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms's text, and he not only illustrated the theme, made statements relating to the social reality but also combined his own thought to sigh with emotions, evaluated the figures contrasting with history and made it"quoting the spirit of the ancients, and connecting the mental view of later generations". The unique of the commentaries made by Zhong Xing is that he analyzed the characters properly, grasped the figures'valuation exactly with the help of conventional commenting method and combining his own thought. His view of comment was concise,sharp-cut and went right to the heart of the matter. That manifested not only the author's creative features but also Zhong Xing's criticizing view as to the standards and methods of comment. So it is very important to research on Zhong Xing's commentaries in order to deepen the research on the text of"the Romance of the Three Kingdoms".Taking the overall appraisal of Zhong Xing's commentaries at the end of each chapter as basis, the Reception Theory and Zhong Xing's poem theory as guidance, rooted in the concrete text, assisted by comments between lines and in the top margin, combining with his personal experience and the social surroundings, this paper systematically illustrates the theoretical value of Zhong Xing's commentaries of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, thoroughly unscramble the thought connotation and criticism pattern of the Zhong Xing's commentaries, summarizes the creative theoretical value of the Zhong Xing's commentaries, protrudingly shows his cogent view and his unique style of taking the history as a mirror.