Many years ago (1988), I bought a book at the Nanchang Antique Bookstore called "The Legend of the Three Sui Ping Demons", written by Luo Guanzhong. Recently, I rummaged through the bookcase and found a magical problem: the book has three pricing. One is the original price on the back cover of the book of 2.50 yuan; one is the stamped discounted special price of 1.50 yuan; one is the price of 2.20 yuan on the invoice for the book that year; more than thirty years ago, how much did I spend to buy it? Now I don't know!
No matter how much it costs, let's talk about the author and the book. Luo Guanzhong is well-known, and his "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is listed as one of the four famous works in China. A famous novelist and opera composer in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, he was the originator of the Chinese Zhanghui novel. Luo Guanzhong (c. 1330 – c. 1400), Han Chinese, mingben, zi guanzhong, number of huhai sanren. His works in his lifetime are quite rich, the main works are: the script "Zhao Taizu Dragon and Tiger Wind and Cloud Society", "Zhongzheng Filial Piety Serial Advice", "Sanping Zhang Dead Weeping Tiger Zi"; the novel "Sui and Tang Dynasties Chronicles", "The History of the Five Dynasties of the Tang Dynasty", "The Legend of the Three Sui Ping Demons", "Powder Makeup Building", and the representative work is of course "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
The Tale of the Three Sui Ping Demons, also known as the Northern Song Dynasty Three Sui Ping Demon Biography, is the first long divine and demonic novel in the history of Chinese novels. The main event told is the Wang Ze Uprising of the Song Dynasty, which Luo Guanzhong sorted out and compiled according to the folklore of historical facts and the words circulating in the city. Because the names of the three protagonists in the book, Ma Sui, Zhuge Suizhi, and Li Suishuai, all have Sui characters, they are called Sansui, which can be described as the precursor of the divine and demonic novel.
The "Three Sui" I included in was published by Peking University Press in 1983, and the Peking University Library has a rare book series, hardcover, and audio and video pictures of the original book.
(November 20, 2021)