User:Qmao12/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article

This is where you will complete your article evaluation. Please use the template below to evaluate your selected article.

• Name of article: (link) Classic Chinese Novels (Classic Chinese Novels)
• Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate. Because it is beneficial to understand the development of Chinese literature.

Lead

Guiding questions

In sinology, the Classic Chinese Novels are two sets of the four or six best-known traditional Chinese novels. The Four Classic Novels include Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, Water Margin and Dream of the Red Chamber, and the Six Classic Novels add Rulin waishi and Jin Ping Mei to this list. These are among the world's longest and oldest novels, and they are the most read, studied and adapted works of pre-modern Chinese fiction.

• Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic? No.
• Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections? Yes.
• Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article? Yes.
• Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed? Too concise.

Content

Guiding questions

Chinese fiction, rooted in narrative classics such as A New Account of the Tales of the World, Soushen Ji, Wenyuan Yinghua, Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang, Taiping Guangji and official histories, developed into the novel as early as the Song dynasty. The novel as an extended prose narrative which realistically creates a believable world of its own evolved in China and in Europe from the 14th to 18th centuries, though a little earlier in China. Chinese audiences were more interested in history and were more historically minded. They appreciated relative optimism, moral humanism, and relative emphasis on collective behavior and the welfare of the society.

The rise of a "money economy" and urbanization beginning in the Song era led to a professionalization of entertainment which was further encouraged by the spread of printing, the rise of literacy, and education. In both China and Western Europe, the novel gradually became more autobiographical and serious in exploration of social, moral, and philosophical problems. Chinese fiction of the late Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty was varied, self-conscious, and experimental. In China, however, there was no counterpart to the 19th-century European explosion of novels. The novels of the Ming and early Qing dynasties represented a pinnacle of classic Chinese fiction.

The scholar and literary critic Andrew H. Plaks argues that Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West as well as Jin Ping Mei (not considered one of the four classic novels but discussed by him as one of the four masterworks of the Ming dynasty) collectively constituted a technical breakthrough reflecting new cultural values and intellectual concerns. Their educated editors, authors, and commentators used the narrative conventions developed from earlier storytellers, such as the episodic structure, interspersed songs and folk sayings, or speaking directly to the reader, but they fashioned self-consciously ironic narratives whose seeming familiarity camouflaged a Neo-Confucian moral critique of late Ming decadence. Plaks explores the textual history of the novels (all published after their author's deaths, usually anonymously) and how the ironic and satirical devices of these novels paved the way for the great novels of the 18th century.

Plaks further shows these Ming novels share formal characteristics. They are almost all over 100 chapters in length; divided into ten chapter narrative blocks which are broken into two to three chapter episodes; arranged into first and second halves which are symmetrical; and arrange their events in patterns which follow seasons and geography. They manipulated the conventions of popular storytelling in an ironic way in order to go against the surface meanings of the story. Three Kingdoms, he argues, presents a contrast between the ideal, that is, dynastic order, and the reality of political collapse and near anarchy; Water Margin likewise presents heroic stories from the popular tradition in a way that exposes the heroism as brutal and selfish; Journey to the West is an outwardly serious spiritual quest undercut by comic and sometimes bawdy tone. Jin Ping Mei is the clearest and most sophisticated example; the action is sometimes grossly sexual, but in the end emphasizes conventional morality.

• Is the article's content relevant to the topic? Yes.
• Is the content up-to-date?
• Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong? Yes.
• Does the article deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps? Does it address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics? No.

Tone and Balance

Guiding questions

• Is the article neutral? Yes.
• Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? No.
• Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
• Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another? Just tell us about the Classic Chinese novel and Four Great Classic Novels, does not persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another.

Sources and References

Guiding question

Organization

Guiding questions

• Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read? No. It's a little sweaty
• Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors? No.
• Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic? Divided into several parts, the structure is not clear.

Images and Media

Guiding questions

• Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic? Yes.
• Are images well-captioned? Yes.
• Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations? Yes.
• Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way? Yes.

Checking the talk page

Guiding questions

• What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? There is an unprofessional discussion of this article.
• How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? It related Chinese history.
• How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class? It more professional and has more sources to discuss.

Overall impressions

Guiding questions

• What is the article's overall status? Not enough is said about the topic.
• What are the article's strengths? It has a lot of sources.
• How can the article be improved? Results and themes should be clearer.
• How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed? A lot information involved , well-developed.

Optional activity

• Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback

with four tildes — ~~~~

• Link to feedback: Talk:Classic Chinese Novels#The vernacular