До створення роману «Сон у червоному теремі» четвертим великим романом вважався «Цзінь пін мей» (1610).
Література
Hsia, Chih-tsing (1968). The Classic Chinese Novel: A Critical Introduction. New York: Columbia University Press. rpr. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980; 413p. ISBN 0253202582). A key introduction for Western general readers to six novels considered in China to be the classics: Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi yanyi); Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan); Journey to the West (Xiyou ji); Golden Lotus, or Plum in the Golden Vase (Jinpingmei); The Scholars (Rulin waishi); and Story of the Stone (Hongloumeng or Shitou ji)
Plaks, Andrew H. (1987). The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel : Ssu Ta Ch'i-Shu. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN0691067082. A seminal exploration of 'literati novels.' Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin (or, Men of the Marshes), Journey to the West, and Golden Lotus (or Plum in a Golden Vase).
Rolston, David L.; Shuen-fu Lin (1990). How to Read the Chinese Novel. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN0691067538. 534 p. Chinese critics of the 17th and 18th centuries wrote commentaries – called dufa ("how to read") – which were interspersed in the text so that the text and the commentary formed one experience for the reader. Scholars in this volume translate and introduce such commentaries for the six now classic novels.