LO KUAN-CHUNG

born c. 1330, , T'ai-yan?, Shansi province, China died c. 1400, , Hangchow?, Chekiang province Pinyin Luo Guanzhong Chinese writer to whom has been attributed such classic Chinese novels as San Kuo chih yen-i (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) and Shui-hu chuan (Water Margin, also known to English readers as All Men Are Brothers). Almost nothing is known about the life of Lo Kuan-chung. His authorship of San Kuo chih yen-i and Shui-hu chuan (the latter jointly with Shih Nai-an), however, has increasingly been disputed. The first work is a historical narrative that exists today in a version of 120 chapters, while the second is a semihistorical picaresque novel of 100 chapters, written in the colloquial style, about a band of outlaws. Both works enjoy continued popularity among Chinese readers.