The
Four Great Classical Novels of
Chinese literature (
Chinese: ,
Sìdàmíngzhù,
lit. "Four Great Masterpieces") are the four
novels commonly regarded by Chinese literary criticism to be the greatest and most influential of pre-modern Chinese fiction. Dating from the
Ming and
Qing dynasties, they are well-known to most Chinese either directly or through their many adaptations to
opera and various
popular culture media.