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Multiscale structural complexity analysis of the Chinese classics A Dream of Red Mansions and All Men Are Brothers |
| Jing Feng(冯靖)1, Ping Wang(王萍)2, and Changgui Gu(顾长贵)3,† |
1 Higher Vocational and Technical College, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai 200437, China;
2 School of Science, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212100, China;
3 Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200092, China |
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Abstract Text, as a fundamental carrier of human language and culture, exhibits high structural and semantic complexity. Its systematic analysis is essential for understanding linguistic patterns and cultural transmission. A Dream of Red Mansions and All Men Are Brothers, two masterpieces of Chinese classical literature, have long been central to debates regarding the authorship of their later chapters. Previous studies, often based on word-frequency statistics, function word distributions, entropy measures, and complex network analyses, have provided valuable insights into stylistic differences; however, they remain limited in capturing cross-scale structural features. To address this gap, we apply a multi-scale structural complexity approach based on character-frequency time series to analyze the structural evolution of both novels under various segmentation strategies. Our results reveal significant differences in peak complexity positions, overall complexity levels, and intra-textual variations between the two works, which are closely linked to changes in authorship and stylistic patterns. This study not only provides new quantitative evidence for resolving authorship disputes in classical literature but also demonstrates, from the perspective of structural complexity, the profound depth and unique charm of Chinese literary expression, highlighting the richness of Chinese language and culture. Moreover, it emphasizes the potential of structural complexity analysis as a versatile tool for textual analysis and style attribution.
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Received: 11 October 2025
Revised: 04 November 2025
Accepted manuscript online: 17 November 2025
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PACS:
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05.45.Tp
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(Time series analysis)
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05.45.Xt
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(Synchronization; coupled oscillators)
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| Fund: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12275179, 11875042, and 12150410309) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (Grant No. 21ZR1443900). |
Corresponding Authors:
Changgui Gu
E-mail: gu_changgui@163.com
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Cite this article:
Jing Feng(冯靖), Ping Wang(王萍), and Changgui Gu(顾长贵) Multiscale structural complexity analysis of the Chinese classics A Dream of Red Mansions and All Men Are Brothers 2026 Chin. Phys. B 35 010506
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