| The Three Sui Quash the Demons’ Revolt,also known as Demons’ Revolt,is the first full-length fantasy fiction in Chinese history.The novel’s story is based on the peasant uprising led by Wang Ze of Beizhou in the Northern Song Dynasty,which is written in the form of the art of speaking in Song and Yuan story-telling script,combined with folklore,fairy tales and predecessors’ novels.It tells readers an ups and downs,fascinating fantasy story,depicting the political situation and social life of the time.There are two extant versions of the Demons’ Revolt that currently existed: the 20-chapter version and the 40-chapter version.The40-chapter version was added by the late Ming Dynasty’s novelist Feng Menglong on the basis of the 20-chapter version,which not only completed the missing story content of the 20-chapter version,but also incorporated many classical elements of gods and monsters on this basis.Some of the original bland characters in the 20-chapter version have been shaped into very attractive "demon" images,such as Saint Aunt of "Mother Fox",Hu Yonger,the "Daji of Fox Demon",Monk Danzi,the "Legend Monk" and so on.These characters are deeply rooted and spread far and wide,and have inspired and influenced the creation of fantasy fictions in China and even overseas.In the first part of this paper,it will first clarify the relationship between the two existing editions of the Demons’ Revolt and the authors of two the editions,and in the second part,it will analyze these demon images from three perspectives: first of all,how these artistic images were born from the previous stories of gods and monsters;secondly,how the 40-chapter edition of the Demons’ Revolt was an adaptation of the characters in the original 20-chapter edition;and thirdly,how these demon images have influenced the creation of later stories of gods and monsters.The 40-chapter edition of the Three Sui Quash the Demons’ Revolt is a high point in the history of the literature of the weird,and these unique demon images are the cornerstone of its success.The purpose of this paper is to analyze each of these characters and to grasp the reasons for their formation,the laws of their creation,as well as their influence on later generations. |
