"the Scholars" - And "fortress Besieged" Comparison

"Anecdotes Among the Scholar's Circle", known as one of the extraordinarily splendid satirical novels in the history of Chinese literature, has over the centuries been highly valued both ideologically and artistically, and was especially appreciated by Mr. Lu Xun.Observing the wicked and disgusting performances by those scholars of the time in pursuit of riches and scholarly honors or official ranks, he did not hesitate to break away from the imperial examination system. It was not long before this great work came into being. He had based his writing material for the book upon his own life experiences by collecting all the facts and matters and refining them in an artistic way. As a result, description in the novel proved to be so concrete and typical that it is widely accepted as one realistic masterpiece.The book is focused on the four main characters. Comparing varieties of their behavior towards riches and honors, the author reveals what is pitiful and hateful and laughable behind them, relentlessly disclosing all kinds of hypocrisy and outrages performed by those scholars, and strongly complaining about the tremendous harm done by the imperial examination system to them, all of which implies the author's fine dreams. Fierce criticism reflected from this novel pushes the content to its unique level.Adopting realistic attitude and approach towards his creation of the work, Wu Jingzi gave a deadly blow to the evil things of the time. His insouciant way of exposing all those evils, on which no commentswere made, achieves a striking satirical effect. Now and then, Wu selected some seemingly matter-of-fact but actually full-of-implication material, with a brief description, leaving the inner-world of a certain character totally exposed. This art of satirizing was to have a far-reaching influence on the later writers."Fortresse Assi(?)g(?)e" (The Encircled City) is another satirical novel, written by Qian Zhongshu, reflecting the life of a group of intellectuals during the Anti-Japanese War Period. This novel shares with the former many similarities in its subject matter, main content and art of satirizing, etc. Consequently, it makes sense to carry out a comparative study of this couple of works. I believe it will greatly benefit the research into the "Anecdotes Among the Scholar's Circle" itself.