#301 Three Kingdoms: History and literature

Three Kingdoms-themed video game (left) and "shanzhai" (山寨) legos (right)

Today we will focus as much as possible on the “consider” questions from last night, which were:

• What do we learn from the podcast about the historical setting of:
  • The novel during the Three Kingdoms period (三國時代 220–280 CE)?
  • The author’s life in the fourteenth century during the transition from the Yuan (元 1271–1368) to the Ming (明 1368–1644) dynasties?
• What is the relationship, according to these scholars, between the novel and history?
• How has the popularity of the novel been reflected in popular culture over time?

Begin by turning to a partner to review your notes and highlight what you remember from these topics. In addition to sharing information or “answers,” we are also going to try to use these questions to build on other questions.

• Each student should aim to ask one open-ended question in relation to these categories.

Next class we will focus on the interiority of the novel itself, including its plot and a focus on Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮), among its most popular characters.

Homework: Assignment #302.

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Further notes added 10/7 by Mr. Hall:

Map of the Three Kingdoms:

Source: Wikimedia
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What is important to note about the historical context of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo 三國) period (220-280 CE)?

• Title of our unit “The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide” is taken from the poem that precedes the work.
  • The period of Three Kingdoms was a period of division, which followed earlier period of unity (Shang/Han), which in turn followed earlier period of division (Spring Autumn/Warring States), which could be said to follow an earlier period of unity (the early Zhou).
    
  • This pattern becomes way for historians in and outside of China to understand the past in cycles (like the idea of the dynastic cycle discussed earlier in our course).
    
  • It also becomes a way of talking about anxieties of the nation, either in times of unity (when one might express fear of coming division) or in times of division (when one might look hopefully to a future period of unity).
    • The most recent period of division in Chinese history occurred during the Warlord era (1916-1928), though in the view of the Chinese Communist Party the country will not be fully unified until Taiwan comes under central government control.

• The political history of this period is “one of the most complex in Chinese history” according to historian Patricia Buckley Ebrey (Ebrey, 86). Here are the basics:
  • Eventually the Wei or Cao Wei (曹魏) came to be the dominant of the three kingdoms.
  • They are united under the Jin (晉) in 265 CE, which succeeded the Wei after a coup that year.
  • However, division soon follows again in 316 CE, which is not fully resolved again until the conquest of the Sui (隋) in 581.
• What do we know about the novel and the context in which it was written?
  • The novel is based on the combination of historical documents and popular storytelling from a “Three Kingdoms culture.”
    • The book is remembered as “70%” reliable, which means the outline account of battles and the names and roles of individuals are both essentially accurate.
  • Luo Guanzhong probably wrote in the 1300s during fall of Yuan (元 1271–1368) dynasty, an unstable period in Chinese history.
  • The novel as we have it today was printed in 1522, which was a more prosperous and stable period. Some further features of the 1522 context:
    • China was then the largest unified state in the world.
    • China benefited from global connections, including silver from Americas that helped fuel commercialization. One example of these exchanges is the fact that the novel found its way into the royal library in Spain.
    • Printing not new—has been around for over five centuries. But it is expanding rapidly at the time and meant more people than ever were literate.
      • Commercial and included pictures that made the text accessible beyond the highly literate.
• Several key themes identified by the commentators on the BBC 4 show are:
  • Loyalty
  • Righteousness
  • Legitimacy
• What is the historical value and legacy of the novel?
  • It is one of the great novels in Chinese history along with The Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan 水滸傳), Journey to the West (Xiyouji 西遊記), and Dream of the Red Chamber (Honglou meng 紅樓夢)
  • It is celebrated in cults, including that of Guan Yu (關於) who comes to be celebrated as a god of war.
  • A theme in material culture: painting, porcelain, woodblock prints, figurines.
  • Performing arts: Opera, movies (the very first movie in Chinese)
  • Contemporary mass culture: Video games, legos, the epic movie Red Cliff (Chibi 赤壁).
  • Embedded in language: “Three visits to the thatched hut” (Sangu maolu 三顧茅廬)