《水浒传与元末社会》

On Outlaws of Marsh and Late Yuan's Society

《水浒传》作者施耐庵生活于元朝后期,这部小说是在南宋以来讲演宋江故事的话本和杂剧基础上创作的。当时元朝统治极腐败,官吏贪残,民生困苦,百姓被迫造反,爆发了红巾军大起义。施耐庵身历其境,小说描写的许多故事情节往往可以和元末真实历史相映照,可见写的虽是北宋末事,却反映了元末的社会现实。

Shi Nai＇ an, born in the late Yuan dynasty（1271--1368）, is well known for his masterpiece Outlaws of Marsh which is based on the verbal script and Za Ju（poetic drama） about the Song Jiang＇s legend that was passed down from the Southern Sung dynasty. Being suppressed by the extremely rotten Yuan Empire and its greedy officials, the people lived a destitute life and were forced to rebel, which finally led to the outbreak of red-scarf rebellion. Considering many plots comparable to what happened in Shi＇s times, we can assume that the novel should reflect the reality of the late Yuan though it tells a story about the Northern Song dynasty（960--1127）.