Why was 'Dream of the Red Chamber' called an ancient encyclopedia and not 'Water Margins' or 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'?
The reason why 'Dream of the Red Chamber' was called an ancient encyclopedia was because it was a novel that covered many fields, including literature, history, geography, art, philosophy, religion, and so on. In 'Dream of the Red Chamber', the author Cao Xueqin used exquisite descriptions and insightful portrayals to show all aspects of China's feudal society, including family, officialdom, human relations, marriage, education, and so on. In addition, Dream of the Red Chamber also contained many interesting details and stories, such as the love between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, Wang Xifeng's wit, Xue Baochai's dignity, and so on. These elements made it a very colorful novel. Although Water Margins and Romance of the Three Kingdoms were also famous novels, they mainly described military and political struggles, and the main characters were not as extensive and in-depth as Dream of the Red Chamber. Therefore, although they are also regarded as classics of ancient novels, they are not generally regarded as "ancient encyclopedia".