Listen to this articlexiǎoshuō 小说
Fiction
以人物形象刻画为中心，通过完整的故事情节和环境描写来反映社会生活的一种文学体式。人物、情节、环境是小说的三要素。按照篇幅及容量，小说可分为长篇、中篇、短篇。中国古典小说，按照所表现的内容，可分为神怪小说、历史演义小说、英雄传奇小说、世情小说等几大类；按照体制可分为笔记体、传奇体、话本体、章回体等；按照语言形式，可分为文言小说和白话小说。中国古典小说经过了不同的发展阶段，有着鲜明的时代特点：先秦两汉时期的神话传说、史传文学，以及诸子散文中的寓言故事等，是中国古代小说的源头；魏晋南北朝时期出现的文人笔记小说，是中国古代小说的雏形；唐代传奇标志着古典小说的正式形成；宋、元出现的话本小说，为小说的成熟奠定了坚实的基础；明清小说标志着中国古典小说发展的高峰，出现了《三国演义》《水浒传》《西游记》《红楼梦》等四大古典名著。“五四”新文化运动之后，现代白话小说创作大量涌现，传播着现代的科学与民主精神。
Fiction is a literary genre primarily concerned with depicting characters to tell a complete story about social life within a setting. Fiction has three main elements, namely, characters, a plot, and a setting. Depending on the length, fiction can be divided into novels, novellas, and short stories. In terms of content, traditional Chinese fiction can be divided into the following broad categories: fantasy stories of gods and spirits, historical fiction, heroic legendary tales, and stories about human relations and social mores. In terms of genre, traditional Chinese fiction is divided into literary sketches, legendary tales, story-tellers’ prompt-books, and chapter-based novels. In terms of language, there is fiction in the classical language and vernacular fiction. Traditional Chinese fiction has evolved through different stages, with distinctive features for each period. The myths, legends and historical biographies of the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, and the fables in the works of the earlier Chinese thinkers were the sources of traditional Chinese fiction. The literary sketches by men of letters in the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties were embryonic forms of traditional fiction. The legendary tales of the Tang Dynasty marked the eventual emergence of Chinese fiction. The story-tellers’ prompt-books in the Song and Yuan dynasties laid the foundation that allowed traditional fiction to reach maturity. The novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties marked the peak in the development of pre-modern fiction. That period is famous for producing four great Chinese classical novels, namely, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, Outlaws of the Marsh and Dream of the Red Chamber. During and after the New Culture Movement and the May 4th Movement around 1919, a large amount of modern vernacular fiction appeared, bringing forth a message of science and democracy of the modern age.
引例 Citations：
◎若其小说家合残丛小语，近取譬喻，以作短书，治身理家，有可观之辞。（桓谭《新论》）
（像那些小说家将零散的论述整合起来，用身边发生的事情打比方进行述说劝诫，所写文章都不长，其中论述个人修身和治理家庭的内容，有不少可看的地方。）
Those writers of stories put together scattered statements. Drawing on what happens around them, they make up parables, writing short pieces. The parts about how to improve one’s character and keep good family life are worth reading. (Huan Tan: New Treatise)
◎小说，正史之余也。（笑花主人《〈今古奇观〉序》）
（小说，是正史之外的一种文学形式。）
Fiction is a literary supplement to formal historical accounts. (Xiaohua Zhuren: Foreword to Strange Tales New and Old)
