Fengshen Yanyi (封神演義;封神演义, A yanyi refers to an epic, especiallay those fictionally created along with historical facts), or sometimes known as Fengshen Bang (封神榜;封神榜), is one of the famous Chinese classical imaginary fictions, depicting the decline of Shang dynasty, and the open-up of Zhou dynasty. In the story, there are myraids of Chinese gods/goddnesses , not to mention the traditional Chinese ghosts and spirits . To a certain degree, it did show the early life in the ancient China where religion played a central role in the people's lives in every aspects. Now this classic is considerably attributed to Xu Zhonglin (許仲琳;许仲琳) (d. 1566) or to Lu Xixing (陸西星;陆西星) (d. 1601).
Summary of the book
This fiction of the sort of a historical romance is a great fantasy about the oust of the unscrupulous, merciless ruler Di Xin (帝辛;帝辛, or otherwise known as Zhòu (紂; 纣) ) of the Shang Dynasty (商;商) by King Wu of Zhou (周武王;周武王). The basis for this story embraces oral and written materials about myriads of Daoist renowned heroes and immortal gods, wicked fiends and cunning spirits (usually avatars of different animals like foxes, chicken; sometimes they could be ordinary musical instrument like Pipa ) that lend a hand to King Wu of Zhou in restraining the infamous emperor, or help the bad Di Xin to resist the heaven appointed rebel. Hoaxed by his fox-ghost concubine Daji (妲己;(妲己), Di Xin murders his loyal ministers with various Spartan punishments like walking on a red hot iron rod, or ripping open their bodies alive and getting their hearts , and even his own sons at length. After the downfall of Shang dynasty, the suicide of king Di Xin and the exorcism of Daji by Jiang Ziya (姜子牙;姜子牙), King Wu of Zhou built his own dynasty, creating the Zhou feudal system. The deceased and slain heroes (the "gods" of the title), even the enemies, are endowed with a heavenly assemblage.
In conclusion, the novel is well-arranged and wonderfully written in an unrelenting series of battles among the heroes, who are not only fighting with arms but also with words, attempting to convince the antagonists to join the vindicated side. The tedium of the never-ending combats makes this masterpiece a quite boring sermon nevertheless, even though the author made an effort to bring in unforeseen elements such as abruptly joining Daoist wizards or even Buddhist divinities.
See also
Last updated: 06-19-2005 17:49:20
