brutal and selfish; Journey to the West is an outwardly serious spiritual quest undercut by comic and sometimes bawdy tone. Jin Ping Mei is the clearest and most sophisticated example: the action is sometimes grossly sexual, but in the end emphasizes conventional morality. Influences These novels influenced the development of vernacular fiction in later Chinese literary history. Traditionally, fiction and drama were not held in high regard in the Chinese or East Asian literary culture, and they were generally not seen as true "literature" by the literati who dominated intellectual life. Writers in these popular forms did not have the same level of prestige as poets or scholars of Chinese classics. The late Ming and early Qing dynasty versions of these novels, however, included commentaries that were printed between the lines, so that the reader saw them as part of the text. These commentaries interpreted the text in often strained ways, but established critical and aesthetic criteria, modeled on those of poetry and painting, that gave fiction a new legitimacy. These novels were written in a mixture of vernacular and classical Chinese, though some were more completely vernacular. For instance, Romance of the Three Kingdoms is known for its mix of classical prose with folklore and popular narratives, while the Dream of the Red Chamber is known for the use of poetry within its mostly vernacular style. These novels popularized and legitimatized the role of vernacular literature in literary circles. In the late imperial periods, with the widespread of commercial printing, Chinese novels also became highly circulated across East Asia; it was reported in 1604, several hundreds of titles of Chinese books came through to the port city of Nagasaki alone, and throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, estimated over a thousand Chinese titles were imported every year. Their prominence prove to be crucial in the development of literature in these places. See also References Works cited and further reading For critical studies specific to the individual novels, see their separate articles. 279p. Explores the Ming world of fiction and ideas of historical change; the hero; social, political, cosmic order and morality; and reactions to the growth of imperial despotism. Internet Archive free online HERE. A cogent summary, though superseded on some points. . This study argues that the decline in quality of printed editions of fiction from late Ming to mid-Qing shows split into popular and literati novels. rpr.