正传 (zhèng zhuàn) — official biography; formal account of a person's life; true story (often used in titles)
Definition
Literary/biographical term meaning 'true story' or 'official biography' — almost always appears in book titles (e.g. 《阿Q正传》). Not used for everyday talk about someone's life.
noun
official biographyformal account of a person's lifetrue story (often used in titles)
Examples
- 《Q正传》。Lǔ xùn de 《ā Q zhèng zhuàn》 shì zhōng guó xiàn dài wén xué de jīng diǎn.Lu Xun's 'The True Story of Ah Q' is a classic of modern Chinese literature.
- 正传。Zhè bù zhèng zhuàn xiáng xì jì lù le zhè wèi lì shǐ rén wù de yì shēng.This official biography records the life of this historical figure in detail.
- ，正传。Tā xiě de bú shì xiǎo shuō, ér shì yí bù zhèng zhuàn.What he wrote is not a novel but an official biography.
Appears in
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