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{{Short description|14th-century Chinese historical novel}}
{{About|the historical novel|other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Romance of the Three Kingdoms
| title_orig = 三國演義
|orig_lang_code=zh
| image = 新刊校正古本大字音释三国志通俗演义 明万历十九年书林周曰校刊本 002.jpg
| image_size = 292
| caption = Title pages from a 1591 printed edition of the novel
| author = [[Luo Guanzhong]]
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = China
| language = Chinese
| subject = Imperial China
| genre = Historical fiction
| pub_date = 14th century
| english_pub_date =1907
| media_type = Print
| pages =
| oclc =
| native_wikisource = 三國演義
| wikisource        = Romance of the Three Kingdoms
|dewey=895.1346
|set_in=[[China]], CE 169–280
}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| title = ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''
| picupright = 0.75
| t = 三國演義
| s = 三国演义
| p = Sānguó yǎnyì
| w = San<sup>1</sup>-kuo<sup>2</sup> yen<sup>3</sup>-i<sup>4</sup>
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|s|an|1|.|g|uo|2|-|yan|3|.|yi|4}}
| suz = Se-kueh iè-nyî
| j = Saam1-gwok3 jin2-ji6
| y = Sāamgwok yínyih
| ci = {{IPAc-yue|s|aam|1|.|gw|ok|3|-|j|in|2|.|j|i|6}}
| poj = Sam-kok ián-gī
| vie = 
| hn = 三國演義
| kanji = 
| hiragana = 
| romaji = 
| hangul = 
| hanja = 
| rr = 
}}

'''''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''''' ({{lang-zh| t=三國演義 |s=三国演义 |p=Sānguó Yǎnyì |first=t}}) is a 14th-century [[historical novel]] attributed to [[Luo Guanzhong]]. It is set in the turbulent years towards the [[end of the Han dynasty]] and the [[Three kingdoms (China)|Three Kingdoms]] period in [[History of China|Chinese history]], starting in 184 CE and ending with the reunification of the [[China proper|land]] in 280 by the [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Western Jin]]. The novel is based primarily on the ''[[Records of the Three Kingdoms]]'', written by [[Chen Shou]] in the 3rd century.

The story–part historical and part fictional–romanticises and dramatises the lives of lords and their retainers, who tried to supplant the dwindling [[Han dynasty]] or restore it. While the novel follows hundreds of characters, the focus is mainly on the three power blocs that emerged from the remnants of the Han dynasty, and would eventually form the three states of [[Cao Wei]], [[Shu Han]], and [[Eastern Wu]]. The novel deals with the plots, personal and military battles, intrigues, and struggles of these states to achieve dominance for almost 100 years.

''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' is acclaimed as one of the [[Classic Chinese Novels|Four Great Classic Novels]] of [[Chinese literature]]; it has a total of 800,000 words and nearly a thousand dramatic characters (mostly historical) in 120 chapters.<ref name="roberts940">Roberts 1991, pg. 940</ref> The novel is among the most beloved works of literature in [[East Asia]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2892148 |title=(Review) Historical China film lives up to expectations |last=Kim |first=Hyung-eun |website=Korea JoongAng Daily |date=11 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111225205804/http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2892148 |archive-date=25 December 2011 |url-status=usurped |quote=The ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' is comparable to the Bible in East Asia. It's one of the most-read if not, the most-read classics in the region.}}</ref> and its literary influence in the region has been compared to that of the works of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] on [[English literature]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2008/11/06/culture/war-as-wisdom-and-gore/|title=War as wisdom and gore|last=Shoji|first=Kaori|website=The Japan Times|date=6 November 2008|quote=In East Asia, ''Romance'' is on par with the works of Shakespeare... in the same way that people in Britain grow up studying ''Hamlet'' and ''Macbeth''.|access-date=8 May 2020|archive-date=2 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215908/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2008/11/06/culture/war-as-wisdom-and-gore/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Its impact is also extensive in [[Southeast Asia]], with many of its characters becoming household names there.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tech in Asia - Understanding strategies in Romance of the Three Kingdoms |url=https://www.techinasia.com/talk/understanding-strategies-in-romance-of-the-three-kingdoms |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=www.techinasia.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ceccarelli |first=Riccardo |date=2022-04-18 |title=The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, an Introduction |url=https://www.europeanguanxi.com/post/the-romance-of-the-three-kingdoms-an-introduction |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=European Guanxi |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-03-04 |title=Kisah Kipas Bulu Bangau Zhuge Liang » Legenda & Mitos, Tiga Negara, Tokoh » Budaya, Sejarah, Tradisi & Adat Istiadat Tionghoa |url=https://www.tionghoa.com/kisah-kipas-bulu-bangau-zhuge-liang/ |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=Tionghoa |language=en-US}}</ref> It is arguably the most widely read historical novel in late imperial and modern China.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ng|first1=On-cho|last2=Wang|first2=Q. Edward|year=2005|title=Mirroring the Past: The Writing and Use of History in Imperial China|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=0824829131|page=86}}</ref> [[Herbert Giles]] stated that for the Chinese themselves, this is regarded as the "greatest among their countless novels".<ref>{{cite book|author=Herbert Giles|author-link=Herbert Giles|title=A History of Chinese Literature|publisher=London: W. Heinemann|year=1901|page=277|quote=If a vote were taken among the people of China as to the greatest among their countless novels, the ''Story of the Three Kingdoms'' would indubitably come out first.}}</ref>

==Origins and versions==
[[File:NAJDA-附001-0008 新刊校正古本大字音釈三国志通俗演義5.pdf|thumb|page=30|272px|Pages from a printed edition of the novel, volume five]]
[[File:WUL-he21 03536 李卓吾先生批評三國志 01.pdf|thumb|page=32|272px|The beginning chapter lists from  Li Zhuowu's commentary edition (late Ming dynasty) of the novel, volume one]]

Stories about the heroes of the Three Kingdoms were the basis of entertainment dating back to the [[Sui dynasty|Sui]] and [[Tang dynasty]] (6th–10th centuries). By the [[Song dynasty]] (10th–13th centuries), records mention professional [[Oral storytelling|oral storytellers]] who specialized in tales of the Three Kingdoms heroes.  The earliest written work to combine these stories was a [[Pinghua (storytelling)|''pinghua'']] named ''[[Sanguozhi Pinghua]]'' published sometime between 1321 and 1323.<ref name="Plaks">{{cite book |last1=Plaks |first1=Andrew |title=The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel: Ssu ta ch'i-shu |date=1987 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=9780691628202 |pages=368–369}}</ref>

===Expansion of the history===
''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' is traditionally attributed to [[Luo Guanzhong]],<ref name="taylor1998">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C1uXah12nHgC&pg=PA1221|access-date=2011-09-22|year=1998|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=1-884964-36-2|pages=1221–1222}}</ref> a playwright who lived sometime between 1315 and 1400 (late [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] to early [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] period) known for compiling historical plays in styles which were prevalent during the Yuan period.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book| title = Romance of the Three Kingdoms| last = Lo| first = Kuan-chung| author-link =Luo Guanzhong| publisher = Tuttle| others = C.H. Brewitt-Taylor (Translator), Robert E. Hegel (Introduction)| year = 2002| isbn = 978-0-8048-3467-4| volume = 1| pages = viii}}</ref> It was first printed in 1522<ref name=":0" /> as ''Sanguozhi Tongsu Yanyi'' ({{lang-zh|t=三國志通俗演義|labels=no}}, ''Popular Romance of the Records of the Three Kingdoms'') in an edition which bore a preface dated 1494.<ref name=AfterwordRoberts/> The text may well have circulated before either date in handwritten manuscripts.<ref name=AfterwordRoberts>Moss Roberts, "Afterword," in Luo, ''Three Kingdoms'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), pp. 937, 938, 964.</ref>

Regardless of when it was written or whether Luo was the writer, the author made use of several available historical records, primarily the ''[[Records of the Three Kingdoms]]'' compiled by [[Chen Shou]] in the 3rd century. The ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' covered events ranging from the [[Yellow Turban Rebellion]] in 184 to the unification of the Three Kingdoms under the [[Jin dynasty (265-420)|Jin dynasty]] in 280. The novel also includes material from [[Tang dynasty]] poetic works, Yuan dynasty operas and his own personal interpretation of elements such as virtue and legitimacy. The author combined this historical knowledge with his own storytelling skills to create a rich tapestry of personalities.<ref>Roberts 1991, pp. 946–53.</ref>

===Recensions and standardised text===

Luo Guanzhong's version in 24 volumes, known as the ''Sanguozhi Tongsu Yanyi'', is now held in the [[Shanghai Library]] in China, [[Tenri Central Library]] in Japan, and several other major libraries. Various 10-volume, 12-volume and 20-volume [[recension]]s of Luo's text, made between 1522 and 1690, are also held at libraries around the world. However, the standard text familiar to general readers is a recension by Mao Lun and his son [[Mao Zonggang]].

At the end of the Ming dynasty, "Li Zhuowu" added commentary to the Luo version, which expanded its circulation and influence.<ref name="Jin Hui-jing">{{cite journal
|first=Hui-jing |last=Jin
|date=December 2012
|title=Li Zhi and Romance of the Three Kingdoms
|url=https://bkds.ustb.edu.cn/en/article/id/5e6c94c6-e348-4b70-b68b-89fbdd11935b
|language=zh
|journal=Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing （Social Sciences Edition）
|volume=26
|issue=4
|pages=13{{ndash}}21
|access-date=3 September 2025}}</ref> 
While Li Zhuowu was the art name of [[Li Zhi (philosopher)|Li Zhi]], the commentary was likely written by an imposter (Ye Zhou).<ref name="Hegel">{{cite book 
|first=Robert E. |last=Hegel
|editor-first1=Haun |editor-last1=Saussy
|editor-first2=Pauline C. |editor-last2=Lee
|editor-first3=Rivi |editor-last3=Handler-Spitz
|date=2021
|title=The objectionable Li Zhi: fiction, criticism, and dissent in late Ming China
|chapter=Performing Li Zhi: Li Zhuowu and the Fiction Commentaries of a Fictional Commentator
|pages=187{{ndash}}208
|publisher=University of Washington Press}}</ref>{{rp|p=194}}
Nevertheless, it is consistent with the anti-authoritarian views of the historical Li Shi. The persona of Li Zhuowu "is presented as a reader who appreciates the text, an interpreter and appropriate model for readers unfamiliar with the form".<ref name="Hegel"/>{{rp|pp=189,194}}

In addition to ''quandian'' (圈點; placement of small circles and dots to the right of the text to indicate emphasis), Li Zhuowu included interlineal comments and comments at the end of chapters. The interlineal comments, written with smaller characters alongside the novel text, were typically short exclamations.<ref name="Hegel"/>{{rp|pp=189}} For example, when Liu Bei is described in the novel text as not fond of reading, Li exclaims: "Taking no joy in reading is the mark of a hero".<ref name="Hegel"/>{{rp|pp=195}} The comments at the end of chapters were longer and were often ironic and conversational. For example, there is a comment in one of the later chapters about the relevance of the novel as follows: “Since [similar events] were narrated previously, this does nothing more than change the names to pad out the narrative. How irritating! This is why it is an ‘elaboration’ [yanyi] of the ''Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms'' [Sanguo zhi]. Laughable!”. However, another comment emphasizes the need for elaboration: "Even so, this is a 'popular romance' and not official history. If it were not so [embellished], then how could it be 'popular'? ".<ref name="Hegel"/>{{rp|pp=196{{ndash}}197}}

This version of the novel contained numerous illustrations of scenes depicted in the text. Illustrations were a near ubiquitous feature of late Ming dynasty books. The flourishing of book illustrations at the time apparently resulted from increased prosperity of the elite which allowed them greater opportunity to read for fun.<ref name="Hegel-book illustrations">{{cite book 
|first=Robert E. |last=Hegel
|date=1998
|title=Reading illustrated fiction in the late imperial China
|publisher=Publisher Stanford University Press}}</ref>{{rp|p=291}}

In 1591, Zhou Yue, owner of the Wanjuanlou Bookshop, published his edited version of the novel with the title, ''A Newly Proofed Edition of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms''. It contained 250 chapters in 12 volumes and included 240 2-page illustrations. Each illustration is flanked by couplets, each line with 11 characters. These were composed by literati and described the scene in a poetic manner.<ref name="Digital Taiwan">{{Cite web
|date=January 2011
|title=A Thousand, Thousand Churning Waves- The Legendary Red Cliff Heritage
|url=https://culture.teldap.tw/culture/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=428
|website=Digital Taiwan
|language=en}}</ref> For example, the illustration "Guan Yu traveled one thousand ''li'' alone." depicts Guan Yu as he begins a journey to rejoin his sworn brother, Liu Bei. It includes the couplet (loose translation), "Loyal and righteous, he returned to his former master alone with a single sword; the hero, moved by his loyalty, was willing to travel to his beloved master a thousand li away."<ref name="Collectors Association">{{Cite web
|date=2011
|title=金陵书坊刊刻的古本"三国" (The ancient edition of "Three Kingdoms" published by Jinling Bookstore)
|url=https://www.sbksc.zcxn.com/html/xsydbk/0218_2302.html
|website=China Association of Collectors
|language=zh
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250919133109/http://web.archive.org/screenshot/https://www.sbksc.zcxn.com/html/xsydbk/0218_2302.html
|archive-date=19 September 2025
|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Zheng Zhenduo]] commented that the prints are bold and vigorous, and while somewhat crude, they are ultimately far superior to the 'delicate' prints in other works.<ref name="Collectors Association"/> A modern reviewer noted that "the lines of the illustrations are energetic, the characters clearly outlined, with vivid and dynamic depictions of action, especially for those climatic chapters".<ref name="Digital Taiwan"/> However, the illustrations appear to function more for decoration than to advance the plot.<ref name="Hegel-book illustrations"/>{{rp|p=184}}

At the time it was published, the Zhou Yue illustrated edition was the most popular version of the novel.<ref name="Digital Taiwan"/> However, the standard text currently familiar to general readers is a recension by Mao Lun and his son Mao Zonggang. Historical editions of the Mao version vary with respect to the illustrations included and these are typically omitted from modern translations. The 1802 edition at the Harvard-Yenching Library, available online, has 12 portrait-style illustrations  at the commencement of Volume 1.<ref>{{Cite web
|title= 繡像三國志全傳 / [羅貫中著]. [China : s.n.], 嘉慶7 [1802] 8 册.
|url=https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:15003851$164i
|website=Harvard Library Viewer
|language=zh-Hant
|access-date=19 September 2025}}</ref>
The 1888 edition, ''Mao Shenshang's Critique of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms/ Most Brilliant Writing of Talent and Taste/ Saoye shanfang edition'', National Palace Museum collection, has 40 such illustrations. These depict the main characters together with text highlighting their role in the narrative.<ref name="Digital Taiwan"/> These editions were variations of the work first published in the 17th century.

In the 1660s, during the reign of the [[Kangxi Emperor]] in the [[Qing dynasty]], Mao Lun and Mao Zonggang significantly edited the text, fitting it into 120 chapters and abbreviating the title to ''Sanguozhi Yanyi''.<ref name="roberts980" /> The text was reduced from 900,000 to 750,000 characters; significant editing was done for narrative flow; use of third-party poems was reduced and shifted from conventional verse to finer pieces; and most passages praising [[Cao Cao]]'s advisers and generals were removed.<ref name="roberts965">Roberts 1991, pg. 965</ref> Scholars have long debated whether the Maos' viewpoint was anti-Qing (identifying [[Southern Ming]] remnants with [[Shu-Han]]) or pro-Qing.<ref name="roberts967 71">Roberts 1991, pp. 967–971</ref>

Commentary is estimated to be almost two-thirds as large as the bulk of the text.<ref name="How to Read">{{cite book 
|first1=David T. |last1=Roy
|first2=David L. |last2=Rolston
|editor-first=David L. |editor-last=Rolston
|date=1990
|title=How to Read the Chinese Novel
|chapter=Chapter III: Mao Tsung-Kang on How to Read the San-Kuo Yen-i (The Romance of the Three Kingdoms)
|pages=146{{ndash}}195
|publisher=Princeton University Press}}</ref>{{rp|p=151}} The Mao introductory essay titled "How to Read ''The Romance of the Three Kingdoms''" begins:
{{Blockquote
|text=Readers of the ''Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms'' should be aware of the distinction between states that rule by legitimate succession, those that rule during an intercalary period, and those that rule illegitimately. ... Why should the state of Wei [established by Cao Cao] not be accorded legitimacy? According to territorial criteria, control of the Central Plain might be sufficient to establish legitimacy; but according to the criterion of principle, legitimacy should be accorded to the Liu clan [the ruling house of the Han dynasty, 202 B.C.-220 A.D.]. The criterion of principle ought to take precedence over territorial consideration.<ref name="How to Read"/>{{rp|p=152}}}}
The famous opening lines of the novel, "[[Tianxia|The empire]], long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been" ({{lang-zh|t=話說天下大勢．分久必合，合久必分|p=|labels=no}}),{{sfnb|Luo|1991|p=5}} long understood to be Luo's introduction and cyclical philosophy, were actually added by the Maos in their substantially revised edition of 1679.<ref>Hegel 2002, p. ix</ref> None of the earlier editions contained this phrase. In addition, Mao also added [[Yang Shen]]'s ''[http://www.vincentpoon.com/the-immortals-by-the-river-----------------.html The Immortals by the River]'' as the famous introductory poem (which began with "The gushing waters of the [[Yangzi River]] pour and disappear into the East", {{lang|zh-Hant|滾滾長江東逝水}}) to the novel.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vincentpoon.com/the-immortals-by-the-river-----------------.html|title=The Immortals by the River (楊慎 臨江仙) 滚滚长江东逝水|website=Vincent's Calligraphy|language=en-GB|access-date=2016-08-02}}</ref> The earlier editions, moreover, spend less time on the process of division, which they found painful, and far more time on the process of reunification and the struggles of the heroes who sacrificed for it.<ref>Bojun Shen, translated by Kimberly Basio, "Studies of the Three Kingdoms in the New Century," in Besio and Tong, eds., ''Three Kingdoms and Chinese Culture'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=yhogHgTrzyEC&q=The+empire+long+divided+must+unite p. 154]</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="159">
File:Three Kingdoms Li Zhuowu edition - example commentary.jpg|Pages from chapter one of Li Zhuowu's (late Ming dynasty) commentary edition of the novel, which includes Li's comments describing Liu Bei, e.g. "He is a hero in the world"
File:Three Kingdoms Li Zhuowu edition – two illustrations.jpg|Illustrations from Li Zhuowu's commentary edition: "Dong Zhuo burns the Changle Palace [in Luoyang]" (left) and "Three heroes [Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei] fight Lü Bu" (right)
File:新刊校正古本大字音释三国志通俗演义_明万历十九年书林周曰校刊本_055.jpg|A 2-page illustration from Zhou Yue's 1591 edition: "Guan Yu Traveled One Thousand Li Alone". Guan Yu is depicted on his horse [[Red Hare]]
File:Three Kingdoms Mao version - Zhuge Liang and Zhang Fei.jpg|Illustrations from ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', an 1802 edition of the Mao version: Facing pages: Zhuge Liang (left) and Zhang Fei (right)
</gallery>

==Plot==
[[File:Three Brothers (Bei, Yu, Fei).jpg|thumb|200px|''Three Heroes of Three Kingdoms'', silk painting by Sekkan Sakurai (1715–1790), depicting Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.]]

The following is a summary of the central plot and some well-known highlights in the novel.

===Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Ten Attendants===
In the late second century, towards the [[End of the Han dynasty|end]] of the [[Han dynasty]] in China, corruption was rampant on all levels throughout the government, with treacherous [[eunuch]]s and villainous officials deceiving the emperor and persecuting those who stood up to them. The Han Empire gradually deteriorated and became increasingly fragmented, with many regional officials being [[warlord]]s with their own armies. In the meantime, the common people suffered, and the [[Yellow Turban Rebellion]] (led by [[Zhang Jue|Zhang Jiao]] and his brothers) eventually broke out during the reign of [[Emperor Ling of Han|Emperor Ling]].

The rebellion was barely suppressed by imperial forces commanded by the general [[He Jin]]. Shortly after Emperor Ling's death, He Jin installed the young [[Liu Bian|Emperor Shao]] on the throne and took control of the central government. The [[Ten Attendants]], a group of influential court eunuchs, feared that He Jin was growing too powerful, so they lured him into the palace and assassinated him. In revenge, He Jin's followers broke into the palace and indiscriminately slaughtered any person who looked like a eunuch. In the ensuing chaos, Emperor Shao and his younger half-brother, the [[Emperor Xian of Han|Prince of Chenliu]], disappeared from the palace.

===Dong Zhuo's tyranny===
[[File:Fengyi Pavilion, Lü bu, Daochan-Three Kingdoms-Zhou Yuejiao edition.jpg|thumb|left|Illustration from  a 1591 edition of the novel: "Fengyi Pavilion, Lü Bu, Diaochan". Diaochan flirts with Lü Bu as Dong Zhuo watches from behind a tree]]
The missing emperor and prince were found by soldiers of the warlord [[Dong Zhuo]], who escorted them back to the palace and used the opportunity to seize control of the imperial capital, [[Luoyang]], under the pretext of protecting the emperor. Dong Zhuo later deposed Emperor Shao and replaced him with the Prince of Chenliu ([[Emperor Xian of Han|Emperor Xian]]), who was merely a figurehead under his control. Dong Zhuo monopolised state power, persecuted his political opponents, and oppressed the common people for his personal gain. During this time, there were two attempts on his life: the first was by a military officer Wu Fu ({{lang-zh|c=伍孚|labels=no}}), who failed and died a gruesome death; the second was by [[Cao Cao]], who was also unsuccessful but managed to escape.

Cao Cao fled from Luoyang, returned to his home [[Commandery (China)|commandery]], and sent out a fake imperial edict to various warlords, calling them to rise up against Dong Zhuo. Under [[Yuan Shao]]'s leadership, eighteen warlords formed a coalition and launched a punitive [[campaign against Dong Zhuo]]. After Dong Zhuo lost the battles of Sishui Pass and [[Battle of Hulao Pass|Hulao Pass]], he forced the citizens of Luoyang to relocate to [[Chang'an]] with him and burnt down Luoyang. The coalition ultimately broke up due to indecisive leadership and conflicting interests among its members. Meanwhile, in Chang'an, Dong Zhuo was betrayed and murdered by his foster son [[Lü Bu]] in a dispute over the maiden [[Diaochan]] as part of a plot orchestrated by the minister [[Wang Yun (Han dynasty)|Wang Yun]].

===Conflict among the various warlords and nobles===
In the meantime, the Han Empire was already disintegrating into civil war as warlords fought for territories and power. [[Sun Jian]] found the [[Imperial Seal of China|Imperial Seal]] in the ruins of Luoyang and secretly kept it for himself. When Yuan Shao confronted him, he refused to hand over the Imperial Seal and left, but was attacked by [[Liu Biao]] (acting on Yuan Shao's instruction) on the way back to his base. At the same time, Yuan Shao waged war against [[Gongsun Zan]] to consolidate his power in northern China. Other warlords such as Cao Cao and [[Liu Bei]], who initially had no titles or land, were also gradually forming their own armies and taking control of territories. During those times of upheaval, Cao Cao saved Emperor Xian from Dong Zhuo's followers, established the new imperial capital in [[Xuchang|Xu]], and became the new head of the central government. He also defeated rival warlords such as [[Lü Bu]], [[Yuan Shu]] and [[Zhang Xiu (warlord)|Zhang Xiu]] in a series of wars and gained control over much of central China.

Meanwhile, Sun Jian was killed in an ambush by Liu Biao's forces. His eldest son, [[Sun Ce]], delivered the Imperial Seal as a tribute to the warlord [[Yuan Shu]], a rising [[pretender]] to the throne, in exchange for troops and horses. Sun Ce then secured himself a power base in the rich riverlands of [[Jiangnan|Jiangdong]] ([[Wu (region)|Wu]]), on which the state of [[Eastern Wu]] was founded later. Tragically, Sun Ce also died at the pinnacle of his career from illness under stress of his terrifying encounter with the ghost of [[Gan Ji|Yu Ji]], a venerable magician whom he had falsely accused of heresy and executed in jealousy. [[Sun Quan]], his younger brother and successor, proved to be a capable and charismatic ruler. With assistance from [[Zhou Yu]], [[Zhang Zhao (Eastern Wu)|Zhang Zhao]] and others, Sun Quan found hidden talents such as [[Lu Su]] to serve him, built up his military forces, and maintained stability in Jiangdong.

===Liu Bei's ambition===
[[File:Dai Jin-Looking Three Times at the Thatched Hut.jpg|thumb|200px|Liu Bei recruiting Zhuge Liang, from ''Visiting the Thatched Hut Three Times'', a [[Ming dynasty]] painting by [[Dai Jin]] (1388–1462).]]

[[Liu Bei]] and his [[Blood brother|oath brother]]s [[Guan Yu]] and [[Zhang Fei]] swore allegiance to the Han Empire in the [[Oath of the Peach Garden]] and pledged to do their best for the people. However, their ambitions were not realised as they did not receive due recognition for helping to suppress the [[Yellow Turban Rebellion]] and participating in the [[campaign against Dong Zhuo]]. After Liu Bei succeeded [[Tao Qian (Han dynasty)|Tao Qian]] as the governor of [[Xu Province]], he offered shelter to [[Lü Bu]], who had just been defeated by Cao Cao. However, Lü Bu betrayed his host, seized control of the province and attacked Liu Bei. After combining forces with Cao Cao to defeat Lü Bu at the [[Battle of Xiapi]], Liu Bei followed Cao Cao back to the imperial capital, Xu, where Emperor Xian honoured him as his "Imperial Uncle" upon learning that he was also a descendant of the imperial clan. When Cao Cao showed signs that he wanted to usurp the throne, Emperor Xian wrote a secret decree in blood to his father-in-law, [[Dong Cheng (Han dynasty)|Dong Cheng]], and ordered him to get rid of Cao Cao. Dong Cheng secretly contacted Liu Bei, [[Ma Teng]] and others, and they planned to assassinate Cao Cao. However, their plans were leaked, and Cao Cao had Dong Cheng and the others arrested and [[Nine familial exterminations|executed along with their families]].

Liu Bei had already left the imperial capital when the plot was exposed, and he moved on to seize control of Xu Province from [[Che Zhou]], the new governor appointed by Cao Cao. In retaliation, Cao Cao attacked Xu Province and defeated Liu Bei, causing him to be separated from his oath brothers. While Liu Bei briefly joined Yuan Shao after his defeat, Zhang Fei took control of a small city, and Guan Yu temporarily served under Cao Cao and helped him slay two of Yuan Shao's generals in battle. The three oath brothers were eventually reunited and managed to establish a new base in [[Runan Commandery|Runan]], but they were defeated by Cao Cao's forces again so they retreated south to [[Jing Province]], where they took shelter under the governor [[Liu Biao]].

===Battle of Guandu===
After pacifying the nearby provinces, suppressing a rebellion by former Yellow Turbans, and consolidating power in the central government, Cao Cao turned his attention north to Yuan Shao, who had recently eliminated Gongsun Zan and now controlled most of northern China. Yuan Shao amassed a large army and camped along the northern bank of the Yellow River.

In the summer of 200, after months of preparations, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao clashed at the [[Battle of Guandu]]. Although Cao Cao was heavily outnumbered by Yuan Shao, he secured a decisive victory over his rival after launching a surprise raid on Yuan Shao's supply train and throwing the enemy into disarray. Yuan Shao retreated north after his defeat, fell ill and died about two years later. Cao Cao took advantage of Yuan Shao's death, which had resulted in internal conflict among his sons who were fighting over their father's territories, and advanced north to attack and seize all of Yuan Shao's lands. By the end of 207, after a [[Battle of White Wolf Mountain|victorious campaign beyond the frontier]] against the [[Wuhuan]], Cao Cao achieved complete dominance of northern China. The territories in central and northern China which came under Cao Cao's control became the foundation of the state of [[Cao Wei]], which would later be established by Cao Cao's son and successor [[Cao Pi]].

===Zhuge Liang joins Liu Bei===
In the meantime, Liu Biao had put Liu Bei in charge of [[Xinye County|Xinye]]. During this time, Liu Bei visited [[Zhuge Liang]] thrice and recruited him. Acting on Zhuge Liang's advice, Liu Bei built up his forces in preparation for war against Cao Cao. Following his unification of central and northern China under his control, Cao Cao, having been appointed [[Chancellor (China)|Imperial Chancellor]] by Emperor Xian, led his forces on a southern campaign to eliminate Liu Bei and Sun Quan. By then, Liu Biao had died and his younger son [[Liu Cong (Han dynasty)|Liu Cong]] decided to surrender control of [[Jing Province]] to Cao Cao.

In 208, although Liu Bei managed to repel two attacks by Cao Cao at Xinye, he was eventually forced to flee due to the overwhelming strength of the enemy forces. Cao Cao and his cavalry caught up with Liu Bei and his forces at [[Battle of Changban|Changban]] and defeated them. During the battle, Liu Bei's generals [[Zhao Yun]] and [[Zhang Fei]] displayed heroics: the former fought his way through enemy lines to rescue Liu Bei's infant son [[Liu Shan]] and deliver him safely back to his father; the latter single-handedly held off enemy forces at a bridge by intimidating and staring them down. Liu Bei and his forces managed to rendezvous with [[Guan Yu]], who had left earlier to seek help from Liu Biao's elder son [[Liu Qi (Liu Biao's son)|Liu Qi]], and they retreated to [[Hankou|Xiakou]].

===Battle of Red Cliffs===
In 208, Liu Bei dispatched Zhuge Liang on a diplomatic mission to [[Jiangnan|Jiangdong]] to meet Sun Quan and discuss forming a Sun–Liu alliance to counter Cao Cao. Although Sun Quan was initially hesitant due to many of his followers advising him to surrender to Cao Cao, he ultimately made up his mind to ally with Liu Bei, placing [[Zhou Yu]] in command of his forces to prepare for the upcoming war. Zhuge Liang temporarily remained in Jiangdong to assist Zhou Yu, who sensed that Zhuge Liang posed a future threat to his lord. Zhou Yu attempted to outwit and kill Zhuge Liang, but failed and had no choice but to cooperate with the latter. The Sun–Liu forces scored a decisive victory over Cao Cao at the [[Battle of Red Cliffs]].

[[File:Chibi.jpg|thumb|200px|Traditional site of the Red Cliffs.]]

Sun Quan and Liu Bei started vying for control of southern [[Jing Province]] after their victory, but Liu Bei won and took over the territories from Cao Cao's general [[Cao Ren]]. Sun Quan, unhappy over having gained nothing, sent messengers to ask Liu Bei to "return" the territories to him, but Liu Bei dismissed the messenger each time with a different excuse. Sun Quan was unwilling to give up, so he followed Zhou Yu's plan to trick Liu Bei to come to Jiangdong to marry his sister [[Lady Sun]] and then hold Liu Bei hostage in exchange for Jing Province. However, Zhuge Liang foiled Zhou Yu's plot, and the newlywed couple returned to Jing Province safely. Zhou Yu later died in frustration after Zhuge Liang repeatedly thwarted his moves to take Jing Province.

===Liu Bei's takeover of Yi Province===
Relations between Liu Bei and Sun Quan deteriorated after Zhou Yu's death, but not to the point of war. Following Zhuge Liang's [[Longzhong Plan]], Liu Bei led his forces westward into [[Yi Province]] and [[Liu Bei's takeover of Yi Province|seized control of the territories]] from the governor [[Liu Zhang (warlord)|Liu Zhang]]. By then, Liu Bei ruled over a vast stretch of land from Yi Province to southern Jing Province; these territories served as the foundation of the state of [[Shu Han]] later. Liu Bei declared himself King of Hanzhong after defeating Cao Cao in the [[Hanzhong Campaign]] and capturing Hanzhong Commandery.

At the same time, Emperor Xian awarded Cao Cao the title of a [[vassal]] king – King of Wei – while Sun Quan was known as the Duke of Wu. In eastern China, Sun Quan and Cao Cao's forces fought in various battles along the [[Yangtze River]], including the battles of [[Battle of Xiaoyao Ford|Hefei]] and [[Battle of Ruxukou (217)|Ruxu]], but neither side managed to gain a significant advantage over the other.

===Death of Guan Yu===
[[File:Chengdu 2007 360.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Shadow puppet]]s in the Sichuan Provincial Museum depicting [[Guan Yu]] and [[Zhang Fei]].]]

Meanwhile, Sun Quan plotted to take Jing Province after growing tired of Liu Bei's repeated refusals to hand over the territories. He secretly made peace and allied with Cao Cao against Liu Bei. While Guan Yu, who guarded Liu Bei's territories in Jing Province, was away attacking [[Cao Ren]] at the [[Battle of Fancheng]], Sun Quan sent his general [[Lü Meng]] to launch [[Lü Meng's invasion of Jing Province|a stealth invasion on Jing Province]]. Guan Yu was unable to capture Fancheng so he retreated, but was caught off guard by Lü Meng and had already lost Jing Province before he knew it. With his army's morale falling and the troops gradually deserting, Guan Yu and his remaining men withdrew to Maicheng, where they were surrounded by Sun Quan's forces. In desperation, Guan Yu attempted to break out of the siege but failed and was captured in an ambush. Sun Quan had him executed after he refused to surrender.

Shortly after Guan Yu's death, Cao Cao died of a brain tumour in Luoyang. His son and successor, [[Cao Pi]], forced Emperor Xian to abdicate the throne to him and established the state of [[Cao Wei]] to replace the Han dynasty. About a year later, Liu Bei declared himself emperor and founded the state of [[Shu Han]] as a continuation of the Han dynasty. While Liu Bei was planning to avenge Guan Yu, Zhang Fei was assassinated in his sleep by his subordinates.

===Battle of Yiling===
As Liu Bei led a large army to avenge Guan Yu and retake Jing Province, Sun Quan attempted to appease him by offering to return him the territories in southern Jing Province. Liu Bei's subjects urged him to accept Sun Quan's offer but Liu Bei insisted on avenging his oath brother. After initial victories against Sun Quan's forces, a series of strategic mistakes resulted in Sun Quan's general [[Lu Xun (Three Kingdoms)|Lu Xun]] inflicting a calamitous defeat on Liu Bei at the [[Battle of Xiaoting|Battle of Yiling]]. Lu Xun initially pursued Liu Bei during his retreat, but gave up after getting trapped inside and barely escaping from Zhuge Liang's [[Stone Sentinel Maze]].

[[File:Zhuge Liang by Zhang Feng.jpg|thumb|right|200px|An artist's impression of [[Zhuge Liang]].]]

Liu Bei died in [[Baidicheng]] from illness a few months later. On his deathbed, Liu Bei granted Zhuge Liang permission to take the throne if his son and successor, [[Liu Shan]], proved to be an inept ruler. Zhuge Liang firmly refused and swore to remain faithful to the trust Liu Bei had placed in him.

===Zhuge Liang's campaigns===
After Liu Bei's death, Cao Pi induced several forces, including Sun Quan, a turncoat Shu general [[Meng Da]], the [[Nanman]] and [[Qiang (historical people)|Qiang]] tribes, to attack Shu, in coordination with a Wei army. However, Zhuge Liang managed to make the five armies retreat without any bloodshed. He also sent [[Deng Zhi]] to make peace with Sun Quan and restore the alliance between Shu and Wu. Zhuge Liang then personally led [[Zhuge Liang's Southern Campaign|a southern campaign]] against the Nanman, defeated them seven times, and won the allegiance of the Nanman king [[Meng Huo]].

After pacifying the south, Zhuge Liang led the Shu army on [[Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions|five military expeditions]] to attack Wei as part of his mission to restore the Han dynasty. Each time, as Zhuge Liang was on the verge of success, he was recalled due to various unfortunate circumstances, such as Liu Shan listening to rumours spread by eunuchs. Moreover, his days were numbered because he had been suffering from chronic illness and his condition worsened under stress. He died of illness at the [[Battle of Wuzhang Plains]] while leading a stalemate battle against the Wei general [[Sima Yi]].

===End of the Three Kingdoms===
The long years of battle between Shu and Wei saw many changes in the ruling Cao family in Wei. The influence of the Caos weakened after [[Cao Rui]]'s death and state power eventually fell into the hands of the regent Sima Yi and subsequently to his sons, [[Sima Shi]] and [[Sima Zhao]].

In Shu, [[Jiang Wei]] inherited Zhuge Liang's legacy and continued to lead another [[Jiang Wei's Northern Expeditions|nine campaigns]] against Wei for three decades, but ultimately failed to achieve any significant success. The Shu emperor [[Liu Shan]] also turned out to be an incompetent ruler who trusted corrupt officials. Shu gradually declined under Liu Shan's rule and was eventually [[Conquest of Shu by Wei|conquered by Wei forces]]. Jiang Wei attempted to restore Shu with the help of [[Zhong Hui]], a disgruntled Wei general, but their plan failed and Zhong Hui was killed by Wei troops while Jiang Wei died by suicide. Shortly after the fall of Shu, Sima Zhao died and his son, [[Emperor Wu of Jin|Sima Yan]], forced the last Wei emperor, [[Cao Huan]], to abdicate the throne to him. Sima Yan then established the [[Jin dynasty (265–420)|Jin dynasty]] to replace the state of Cao Wei.

In Wu, there had been internal conflict among the nobles since Sun Quan's death. The regents [[Zhuge Ke]] and [[Sun Chen]] consecutively attempted to usurp the throne but were eventually ousted from power and eliminated in coups. Although stability was temporarily restored in Wu, the last Wu emperor, [[Sun Hao]], turned out to be a tyrant. Wu, the last of the Three Kingdoms, was eventually [[Conquest of Wu by Jin|conquered by the Jin dynasty]]. The fall of Wu marked the end of the near century-long era of civil strife historically known as the Three Kingdoms period.

==Historical accuracy==
{{See also|List of fictitious stories in Romance of the Three Kingdoms}}

The novel draws from [[Chen Shou]]'s ''[[Records of the Three Kingdoms]]'' as the main historical source. Other major influences include Liu Yiqing's ''[[A New Account of the Tales of the World]]'' (''Shishuo Xinyu''), published in 430,<ref name="roberts981">Roberts 1991, pg. 981</ref> and the ''Sanguozhi Pinghua'', a chronological collection of eighty fictional sketches starting with the peach garden oath and ending with Zhuge Liang's death.<ref name="roberts954">Roberts 1991, pg. 954</ref>

Some 50 or 60 Yuan and early Ming plays about the Three Kingdoms are known to have existed, and their material is almost entirely fictional, based on thin threads of actual history. The novel is thus a return to greater emphasis on history, compared to these dramas.<ref name="roberts958 9">Roberts 1991, pp. 958–9</ref> The novel also shifted towards better acknowledgement of southern China's historical importance, while still portraying some prejudice against the south.<ref name="roberts959 83">Roberts 1991, pp. 959, 983</ref> The Qing dynasty historian [[Zhang Xuecheng]] famously wrote that the novel was "seven-parts fact and three-parts fiction."<ref name="roberts980">Roberts 1991, pg. 980</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal| last = Moody| first = Peter R. Jr.| date = April 1975| title = The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Popular Chinese Thought| journal = The Review of Politics| volume = 37| issue = 2| pages = 178–179| doi = 10.1017/s0034670500023238| s2cid = 145713026}}</ref> The fictional parts are culled from different sources, including unofficial histories, folk stories, the ''Sanguozhi Pinghua'', and also the author's own imagination. Nonetheless, the description of the social conditions and the logic that the characters use is accurate to the Three Kingdoms period, creating "believable" situations and characters, even if they are not historically accurate.<ref name="guan14">Luo 2006, pg. 14</ref>

''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', like the dramas and folk stories of its day, features Liu Bei and his associates as the protagonists; hence the depiction of the people in Shu Han was glorified. The antagonists, Cao Cao, Sun Quan and their followers, on the other hand, were often denigrated. This suited the political climate in the Ming dynasty, unlike in the Jin dynasty when Cao Wei was considered the legitimate successor to the Han dynasty.{{sfn|McLaren|2012|p=46}}

Some non-historical scenes in the novel have become well-known and subsequently became a part of traditional Chinese culture.

==Literary analysis==
In a literary analysis of the novel, Yao Yao focuses on the way the Mao edition interlaces the stories told about the three kingdoms in a way designed to highlight the relationships among the story elements. Yao Yao uses the analogy of a rope: "juxtaposed and reasonably developed strands of narrative become interlaced".<ref name="Yao thesis">{{cite thesis 
|first=Yao |last=Yao
|date=1990
|title=A literary analysis: The interlace structure in the romance of "The Three Kingdoms".
|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/808ddfb5074be5530a164555a95d075d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
|degree=PhD
|publisher=University of California, Berkeley
|access-date=30 September 2025}}</ref>{{rp|p=87}} Maos' invention of literary devices is made evident in numerous comparisons of the Mao edition with Chen Shou's historic account the ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', which was an important source, as well as the Li Zhuowu edition (also referred to as the Jiajing edition).

The title of the Mao edition, ''San Guo Zhi Tongsu Yan Yi'' (''Popular Romance of the Records of the Three Kingdoms'' includes the qualifier, "Yan Yi", (conventionally translated as "Romance") to indicate that it is an amplification of the earlier work.<ref name="Yao thesis"/>{{rp|p=36}} The best example of this amplification is the depiction of Zhuge Liang's southern campaign. The campaign was actually a single action which Chen Shou described in a few sentences. The Mao edition greatly expands the action into seven battles in which Meng Huo, the rebel leader, is captured and released seven times. The expanded story (told in chapters 87{{ndash}}89) underscores "Zhuge's endless effort to restore the Han Dynasty".<ref name="Yao thesis"/>{{rp|p=60}} As described by Yao, "The author uses freely the vast store of early tradition, written and oral. He integrates reality and invention (history and fiction) in order to form a single story".<ref name="Yao thesis"/>{{rp|p=37}}

The Mao edition and Li Zhuowu editions have similarities and differences with respect to chapter structure. The Li Zhuowu edition has 240 chapters ("hui") each with a single story and title, these were grouped into 120 pairs. Odd-number chapters ended in stock phrases such as "Can he survive?" or "Let's see how he will defeat the enemy?". Even-number chapters often ended with "What's next? We will find out in the following 'hui' ".<ref name="Yao thesis"/>{{rp|pp=45{{ndash}}46}} Thus, each pair of chapters presents a story written in chronological order.

On the other hand, the Mao edition has 120 chapters, each with two interlaced stories (sometimes with other short stories inserted). The titles are couplets, one line for each of the major stories. The interlacing of the stories (with somewhat less regard to their chronology) illuminates the parallels or contrasts between them which the Maos had carefully highlighted.<ref name="Yao thesis"/>{{rp|p=52}}

Prose and poems are also interlaced. The poems typically reaffirm, or question points made by the narrator becoming, in essence, a secondary narrator. Poems are often used to increase the universality of specific points made by the main narrator.<ref name="Yao thesis"/>{{rp|p=68}} Poems were also used to break the narrative flow and are placed at the end of chapters to summarize events and to transition to the next chapters.<ref name="Yao thesis"/>{{rp|p=60}}

Yao Yao includes an example from Chapter 79 of the Mao edition which illustrates the interlacing of two plots within a chapter and the interlacing of poetry and prose. Chapter 79 includes two stories one describes Liu Bei's attempt to punish two generals who had refused aid to Guan Yu which led to his death. One of the generals was his adopted son, whom he felt compelled to execute. Soon thereafter, in Chapters 82{{ndash}}84), he gathers all his forces and engages with those of Sun Quan in the Battle of Yiling where he is totally defeated.

The other story (which is the first of the two) describes how Cao Pi (Cao Cao's initial successor) attempts to kill his more talented and scholarly younger brother, Cao Zhi, out of fear that Cao Zhi might be a threat to his leadership. He orders Cao Zhi to compose a poem in the time required to take seven steps. If he fails, he will be executed. Cao Zhi successfully composes a poem that "describes two bulls fighting and colliding against each other. One is pushed past the edge and falls into a dry well, where it dies".<ref name="Yao thesis"/>{{rp|p=56}}

Cao Pi is not satisfied and requires a second poem. This time Cao Zhi composes the more widely quoted ''[[Quatrain of Seven Steps]]'' which describes cooking beans over a fire built with dry bean stems. The beans exclaim: "Alive we sprouted from a single root{{mdash}}/ What is your rush to cook us on the fire".<ref name="Roberts 2004 v2">{{Cite book
|title = Three Kingdoms| last = Luo| first = Guanzhong
|volume=Part 2
|publisher = University of California Press
|others = Translation, afterword and notes by Moss Roberts
|year = 2024
|isbn = 978-0-520-22503-9}}</ref>{{rp|p=599}} Cao Pi takes the poem to heart and allows Cao Zhi to go free.

The first poem about the bulls foreshadows Liu Bei's downfall; the second, Cao Pei's mistreatment of his brother. The second poem "also reinforces the link between the two halves of this chapter by bringing out the irony: on the one hand, Liu Bei gives up all he has to avenge a sworn brother; on the other hand, Cao Pei will not be satisfied until he can find a way to put his blood brother to death".<ref name="Yao thesis"/>{{rp|p=56}} The chapter concludes with the poem: "The Shrines of Wei were about to be established;/ The land of Han was about to pass into another's hands".<ref name="Roberts 2004 v2"/>{{rp|p=603}}

The Mao's themselves also comment on the interlacing of the stories in their opening essay as follows (translator annotation omitted and romanizations standardized to [[pinyin]]):

{{Blockquote
|text=Cao Pi's cruel oppression of the living Cao Zhi is a case of conflict between brothers of the same blood, whereas Liu Bei's grievous lamentation over the dead Guan Yu is a case of brotherly love between men of different surnames. [...] Examples such as those enumerated above, some of which are analogous and some of which are contrasting, all parallel each other within a single chapter.<ref name="How to Read"/>{{rp|p=189}}}}

Elsewhere the Maos comment that such interlacing may occur in a single chapter or in some cases "at a distance across several tens of intervening chapters".<ref name="How to Read"/>{{rp|p=188}}

Yao Yao goes on to discuss other key components of the work including: the rise and fall of states and individuals in the novel, the lack of continuity between generations, the individual development and complexity of major characters and the interlacing of themes by repetition.<ref name="Yao thesis"/>{{rp|pp=84{{ndash}}154}}

[[File:Peach garden ceremony.jpg|thumb|220px|left|Illustration from a 1591 edition of the novel, "Peach Garden Oath of Brotherhood", depicting the heroes with a black bull and white horse sacrificed in the ceremony.]]

In the introduction to the 1959 reprint of the [[Charles Henry Brewitt-Taylor|Brewitt-Taylor]] translation, Roy Andrew Miller argues that the novel's chief theme is "the nature of human ambition",<ref name=":1" /> to which Moody adds the relationship between politics and morality, specifically the conflict between the idealism of [[Confucianism|Confucian]] political thought and the harsh realism of [[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalism]], as a related theme.<ref name=":1" /> Other dominant themes of the novel include: the rise and fall of the ideal liege (Liu Bei); finding the ideal minister (Zhuge Liang); the conflict between the ideal liege (Liu Bei) and the consummate villain (Cao Cao); and the cruelties and injustice of feudal or dynastic government.<ref name="roberts940" />

The opening lines of the novel, "The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been", added by Mao Lun and [[Mao Zonggang]] in their recension,<ref>Hegel 2002, p. ix–x;</ref>{{sfnb|Luo|1991|p=5}} epitomise the tragic theme of the novel. One recent critic notes that the novel takes political and moral stands and lets the reader know which of the characters are heroes and which villains, yet the heroes are forced to make a tragic choice between equal values, not merely between good and evil. The heroes know that the end of the empire is ordained by this cosmic cycle of division and unity, yet their choices are moral, based on loyalty, not political.<ref name=Tung>Constantine Tung, "Cosmic Foreordination and Human Commitment: The Tragic Volition in Three Kingdoms", in Kimberly Ann Besio, Constantine Tung. ''Three Kingdoms and Chinese Culture'' (Albany: SUNY Press, 2007), p. 4.</ref>

Plaks states the novel deals with the "cyclical theories of dynastic decline," and relates the "breakdown of order" at the end of the Han dynasty to "the improper exercise of imperial authority, the destabilisation influence of special-interest groups (eunuchs, imperial clansmen), the problem of factional and individual idealism carried to the point of civil strife-all of which eventually surface in the body of the narrative."  He goes on to say, the "overlapping claims to legitimacy and multiple spheres of power," give the novel a "sense of epic greatness" with its "combination of grandeur and futility."<ref name=Plaks/>{{rp|385,403,495}}

==Cultural impact==
Besides the famous Peach Garden Oath, many [[Wikiquote:Chinese proverbs|Chinese proverbs]] in use today are derived from the novel:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!width=30%|Translation
!width=30%|Chinese
!width=40%|Interpretation
|-
|Brothers are like limbs, wives and children are like clothing. Torn clothing can be repaired; how can broken limbs be mended?<ref>{{Cite web
|title=Brothers are like hands and feet
|url=https://www.hanyucidian.org/dictionary/entry?dictionaryCode=xiaoshuosuyu&entryName=%E5%85%84%E5%BC%9F%E5%A6%82%E6%89%8B%E8%B6%B3
|website=A Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Proverbs
|language=zh-hans
|access-date=23 November 2025}}</ref>
|{{lang-zh|t=兄弟如手足，妻子如衣服。衣服破，尚可縫； 手足斷，安可續？|s=兄弟如手足，妻子如衣服。衣服破，尚可缝； 手足断，安可续？}}
|
It means that wives and children, like clothing, are replaceable if lost but the same does not hold true for one's brothers (or friends).
|-
|Liu Bei "borrows" [[Jingzhou (ancient China)|Jing Province]] – borrowing without returning.<ref>{{Cite web
|title=Liu Bei borrows Jingzhou
|url=https://www.hanyucidian.org/dictionary/entry?dictionaryCode=jdxiehou&entryName=%E5%88%98%E5%A4%87%E5%80%9F%E8%8D%86%E5%B7%9E
|website=A Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Proverbs
|language=zh-hans
|access-date=23 November 2025}}</ref>
|{{lang-zh|t=劉備借荆州——有借無還|s=刘备借荆州——有借无还}} <br /> {{lang-zh|t=劉備借荆州，一借無回頭|s=刘备借荆州，一借无回头}}
|This proverb describes the situation of a person borrowing something without the intention of returning it.
|-
|Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives.<ref>{{Cite web
|title=Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives
|url=https://www.hanyucidian.org/dictionary/entry?dictionaryCode=jdsuyu&entryName=%E8%AF%B4%E6%9B%B9%E6%93%8D%EF%BC%8C%E6%9B%B9%E6%93%8D%E5%B0%B1%E5%88%B0
|website=A Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Proverbs
|language=zh-hans
|access-date=23 November 2025}}</ref>
|{{lang-zh|t=說曹操，曹操到|s=说曹操，曹操到}} <br /> {{lang-zh|t=說曹操曹操就到|s=说曹操曹操就到}}
|Equivalent to [[speak of the devil]]. Describes the situation of a person appearing precisely when being spoken about.
|-
|Three reeking tanners [or cobblers] (are enough to) overcome one Zhuge Liang.<ref>{{Cite web
|title=Three cobblers are equal to one Zhuge Liang
|url=https://www.hanyucidian.org/dictionary/entry?dictionaryCode=hydcdcx&entryName=%E4%B8%89%E4%B8%AA%E8%87%AD%E7%9A%AE%E5%8C%A0%EF%BC%8C%E6%8A%B5%E4%B8%AA%E8%AF%B8%E8%91%9B%E4%BA%AE
|website=A Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Proverbs
|language=zh-hans
|access-date=23 November 2025}}</ref>
|{{lang-zh|t=三個臭皮匠，勝過一個諸葛亮|s=三个臭皮匠，胜过一个诸葛亮}} <br /> {{lang-zh|t=三個臭皮匠，賽過一個諸葛亮|s=三个臭皮匠，赛过一个诸葛亮}} <br /> {{lang-zh|t=三个臭裨将，頂個諸葛亮|s=三个臭裨将，顶个诸葛亮}}
|This proverb expresses the idea that the collaboration of people working together maybe more effective than one intelligent person working alone. One variation is "subordinate generals" ({{lang-zh|t=裨將|s=裨将}}; ''píjiàng'') instead of "tanners" (皮匠; ''píjiàng'').
|-
|Eastern Wu arranges a false marriage that turns into a real one.<ref>{{Cite web
|title=The marriage proposal in Eastern Wu turned out to be real
|url=https://www.hanyucidian.org/dictionary/entry?dictionaryCode=xdhydcd&entryName=%E4%B8%9C%E5%90%B4%E6%8B%9B%E4%BA%B2%EF%BC%8C%E5%BC%84%E5%81%87%E6%88%90%E7%9C%9F
|website=A Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Proverbs
|language=zh-hans
|access-date=23 November 2025}}</ref>
|{{lang-zh|t=東吳招親——弄假成真|s=东吴招亲——弄假成真}}
|When a plan to falsely offer something backfires with the result that the thing originally offered is appropriated by the intended victim of the hoax.
|-
|Losing the lady and crippling the army.<ref>{{Cite web
|title=Zhou Yu's brilliant plan to secure the world backfired, costing him both his wife and his army
|url=https://www.hanyucidian.org/dictionary/entry?dictionaryCode=xiaoshuosuyu&entryName=%E5%91%A8%E9%83%8E%E5%A6%99%E8%AE%A1%E5%AE%89%E5%A4%A9%E4%B8%8B%EF%BC%8C%E8%B5%94%E4%BA%86%E5%A4%AB%E4%BA%BA%E5%8F%88%E6%8A%98%E5%85%B5
|website=A Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Proverbs
|language=zh-hans
|access-date=23 November 2025}}</ref>
|{{lang-zh|t=周郎妙計安天下，賠了夫人又折兵|s=周郎妙计安天下，赔了夫人又折兵}}
|The "lady" lost here was actually [[Sun Quan]]'s sister [[Lady Sun]]. [[Zhou Yu]]'s plan to capture Liu Bei by means of a false marriage proposal failed and Lady Sun really became Liu's wife (see above). Zhou Yu later led his troops in an attempt to attack Liu Bei but fell into an ambush and suffered a crushing defeat. This saying is now used to describe situations where schemers makes a fools of themselves and suffer double losses.
|-
|Every person on the street knows what is in [[Sima Zhao]]'s mind.<ref>{{Cite web
|title=Sima Zhao's intentions are obvious to everyone
|url=https://www.hanyucidian.org/dictionary/entry?dictionaryCode=jdsuyu&entryName=%E5%8F%B8%E9%A9%AC%E6%98%AD%E4%B9%8B%E5%BF%83%E2%80%94%E2%80%94%E8%B7%AF%E4%BA%BA%E7%9A%86%E8%A7%81
|website=A Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Proverbs
|language=zh-hans
|access-date=23 November 2025}}</ref>

|{{lang-zh|t=司馬昭之心，路人皆知|s=司马昭之心，路人皆知}}
|As [[Sima Zhao]] gradually rose to power in Wei, his intention to usurp state power became more obvious. The young Wei emperor [[Cao Mao]] once lamented to his loyal ministers, "Every person on the street knows what is in Sima Zhao's mind (that he wanted to usurp the throne)." This saying is now used to describe a situation where a person's ill-intention is obvious.
|-
|The young should not read ''[[Water Margin]],'' and the old should not read ''Three Kingdoms.''<ref name="Kwon thesis">{{cite thesis 
|first=Hyuk-chan |last=Kwon
|date=2010
|title=From Sanguozhi yanyi to Samgukchi: domestication and appropriation of Three Kingdoms in Korea
|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2429/24238
|degree=PhD
|publisher=University of British Columbia (Vancouver)
|hdl=2429/24238
|access-date=26 August 2025}}</ref>{{rp|p=218}}

|{{lang-zh|t=少不讀水滸, 老不讀三國|s=少不读水浒, 老不读三国}}
|The former depicts the lives of heroic outlaws and their defiance of the corrupted government system but results in bittersweet tragedy. The latter presents dynasties that came and go which reminds the old that nothing is permanent.
|-
|}

The writing style adopted by ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' was part of the emergence of written vernacular during the Ming period, as part of the so-called "Four Masterworks" (''si da qishu'').<ref>Liangyan Ge, "Out of the margins: the rise of Chinese vernacular fiction", University of Hawaii Press, 2001</ref>

===Buddhist aspects===
[[File:新刊校正古本大字音释三国志通俗演义_明万历十九年书林周曰校刊本_155.jpg|thumb|Illustration from a 1591 edition of the novel: "On Jade Spring Mountain, Lord Guan reveals his sanctity" which depicts the apparition of Lord Guan [left, mounted on Red Hare] appearing to Monk Pujing [with deer tail whisk].]]
{{See also|Chinese Buddhism#Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE)}}
The famous [[Tiantai]] monk [[Zhiyi]], established a monastery at Jade Spring Mountain in Hubei, in the sixth century. "Historical" records claimed that he had to overcome a local dragon deity before it could be built. Fortuitously, the monastery was located near the burial place of Guan Yu, where there was a local cult that held him as a deity. Over time interactions with the local people led the monks to elevate Guan Yu as a supernatural being, referring to him as Lord Guan. A story was developed that he had aided in construction of the monastery. In ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' the association of Guan Yu and the monastery was included in the narrative. In the novel, Guan Yu, was beheaded on orders from Sun Quan. His spirit appears to the Monk Pujing and asks him to return his head. Pujing reminds him of the generals he had beheaded. Guan Yu's sprit comprehends and disappears (chapter 77). The popularity of the novel then caused the original story of the dragon to be "largely pushed out of sight".<ref name="Ter Haar">{{cite book 
|first=Barend J. |last=Ter Haar
|date=2017
|title=Guan Yu: The religious afterlife of a failed hero
|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>{{rp|pp=26{{ndash}}34}}
Lord Guan is still reverenced today as a Bodhisattva in Buddhist tradition.<ref>{{Cite web
|title=Garan Bodhisattva
|author=Venerable Guan Cheng Translated By Andrew Yang
|date=12 January 2023
|url=https://buddhisttemple.ca/teaching/%e4%bc%bd%e8%97%8d%e8%8f%a9%e8%96%a9/
|website=International Buddhist Society
|access-date=25 November 2025
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240719234734/https://buddhisttemple.ca/teaching/%e4%bc%bd%e8%97%8d%e8%8f%a9%e8%96%a9/
|archive-date=19 July 2024
|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Adaptations ===
{{Main list|List of media adaptations of Romance of the Three Kingdoms
}}

The story of the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' has been retold in numerous forms including television series, manga, video games and fan fiction.

=== Fan fiction ===
Fan fiction about ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' is a form of online cultural adaptation of the novel of the same name. As with many fan fiction works, the main producers and consumers are young women, and in this case, young Chinese women.<ref name=":2">Tian, Xiaofei (2015). "Slashing Three Kingdoms: A Case Study in Fan Production on the Chinese Web". ''Modern Chinese Literature and Culture''. '''27''' (1): 224–277. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 1520-9857.</ref> Scholars argue that the emergence of this type of adaptation was motivated by the marginalization and heavily stereotyped female characters as well as unexplored plotlines in the original text.<ref name=":2" /> The Battle of the Red Cliff and Liu Bei’s answer after Guan Yu and Zhang Fei complained about his growing intimacy with Zhuge Liang are two scenes containing such plotlines.<ref name=":2" />

Common couples derived from ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' include Liu Bei/Zhuge Liang, often referred to as Xuan/Liang, and Cao Cao/Guan Yu, or Cao/Guan.<ref name=":2" /> Both follow the dominant/submissive structure typical of Japanese "[[boys' love]]" (BL), are closely tied to the original story and often require the reader to be familiar with the work the fan fiction is derived from.<ref>Feng, Jin (2013-08-15). ''Romancing the Internet''. BRILL. {{ISBN|978-90-04-25972-0}}.</ref><ref>Wang Zheng 王錄.2008. Tongren deshijie: duiyizhong wangluo xiaozhong wenhua de yanjiu 亞文化下:的耽美小説小女人們填補情 (The world of fan fiction: a study of a kind of online minority culture). Beijing: Xinhua.</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Xu |first1=Yanrui |title=2 Between BL and Slash: Danmei Fiction, Transcultural Mediation, and Changing Gender Norms in Contemporary China |date=2022-05-31 |work=Queer Transfigurations |pages=17–30 |editor-last=Welker |editor-first=James |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780824892234-005/html |access-date=2025-12-08 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |doi=10.1515/9780824892234-005 |isbn=978-0-8248-9223-4 |last2=Yang |first2=Ling }}</ref>

Liu Bei's tendency to share his bed with good friends like Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun popularized the trope in which one character watches another male's body in sleep.<ref name=":3">Chen Shou 陳壽• 1959. Sanguo zhi 三國志(Record of the three kingdoms). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju</ref> The vulnerability associated with this trope goes hand in hand with the use of adjectives associated with female beauty to physically describe submissive characters like Zhuge Liang. According to scholars, this practice was popularized by the idea of "soft-masculinity" in contemporary China and now reinforces this same “soft-masculinity”.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wang |first=Aiqing |date=2021-06-18 |title=NONNORMATIVE MASCULINITY IN DANMEI LITERATURE: 'MAIDEN SEME' AND SAJIAO |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/doi/10.17572/mj2021.1.106123 |journal=Moment Journal |doi=10.17572/mj2021.1.106123 |issn=2148-970X}}</ref> Finally, the progressiveness of ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' fan fiction comes from the transformation of the political discourse into a sexual discourse and from the pleasure derived from producing and consuming fan fiction.<ref name=":2" />

==Translations==
=== Manchu ===
The [[Jurchen people|Jurchen]] chieftain [[Nurhaci]] was an avid reader of the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' and ''[[Water Margin]]'', learning all he knew about Chinese military and political strategies from them.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Geoffrey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gjdDP15N4FkC&q=three+kingdoms+nurhaci+romance&pg=PT801 |title=Global Crisis: War, Climate and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century |date=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300189193 |edition=illustrated}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Swope |first1=Kenneth M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WRaoAgAAQBAJ&q=three+kingdoms+nurhaci+romance&pg=PA16 |title=The Military Collapse of China's Ming Dynasty, 1618–44 |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1134462094 |edition=illustrated |page=16}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mair |first1=Victor H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agI7CwAAQBAJ&q=three+kingdoms+nurhaci+romance&pg=PT159 |title=Chinese Lives: The People Who Made a Civilization |last2=Chen |first2=Sanping |last3=Wood |first3=Frances |date=2013 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |isbn=978-0500771471 |edition=illustrated}}</ref> Thus, when his descendants founded the Qing dynasty and became the rulers of China, the book was one of the first Chinese books to be translated into their [[Manchu language]] along with military manuals.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crossley |first1=Pamela Kyle |last2=Rawski |first2=Evelyn S. |date=Jun 1993 |title=A Profile of The Manchu Language in Ch'ing History |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |publisher=Harvard-Yenching Institute |volume=53 |issue=1 |page=93 |doi=10.2307/2719468 |jstor=2719468}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Chiu |first1=Elena Suet-Ying |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xq51ko-eXlEC&q=dahai+translated+military+texts&pg=PA25 |title=Cultural Hybridity in Manchu Bannermen Tales (zidishu). |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-549-44084-0 |pages=25– |publisher=University of California, Los Angeles }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref name="babelstone.co.uk">{{Cite web |last=West |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew West (linguist) |title=The Textual History of Sanguo Yanyi: The Manchu Translation |url=http://www.babelstone.co.uk/SanguoYanyi/TextualHistory/Manchu.html |access-date=11 October 2016}}</ref><ref name="jstor.org">{{cite journal |last1=Durrant |first1=Stephen |year=1979 |title=Sino-manchu Translations at the Mukden Court |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=99 |issue=4 |pages=653–61 [654–656] |doi=10.2307/601450 |jstor=601450}}</ref>  Indeed, it is one of only two Chinese novels that had a Manchu translation put into print during the Qing dynasty (the other being ''[[Jin Ping Mei]]'').<ref name="babelstone.co.uk" />

A Manchu translation of the ''Romance'', known in Manchu as ''Ilan gurun-i bithe'' ({{MongolUnicode|ᡳᠯᠠᠨ<br />ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ ᡳ<br />ᠪᡳᡨᡥᡝ}}), was first attempted in 1631 by the eminent scholar [[Dahai]] ({{lang|zh|達海}}; 1595–1632), but he died the following year before it could be finished. A complete translation based on the 1522 edition of the novel was done in 1647 and published in 1650 by a team of high-ranking officials including [[Kicungge]] ({{lang|zh|祁充格}}; d.&nbsp;1651) and [[Fan Wencheng]] (1597–1666), commissioned by the prince-regent [[Dorgon]].<ref name="babelstone.co.uk" /><ref>{{Citation |last=Gimm |first=Martin |title=The Manchu Translations of Chinese Novels and Short Stories: An Attempt at an Inventory |date=2013 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1355/9789814414333-009/html?lang=en |work=Literary Migrations: Traditional Chinese Fiction in Asia (17th-20th Centuries) |pages=93–126 |access-date=2023-11-28 |publisher=ISEAS Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1355/9789814414333-009 |isbn=978-981-4414-33-3|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This is the first translation of the ''Romance'' that could be dated with certainty in any language.<ref>{{Citation |last=Salmon |first=Claudine |title=Introduction |date=2013 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1355/9789814414333-005/html |work=Literary Migrations: Traditional Chinese Fiction in Asia (17th-20th Centuries) |pages=1–36 |access-date=2023-11-28 |publisher=ISEAS Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1355/9789814414333-005 |isbn=978-981-4414-33-3|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Manchu translation was itself translated into a number of languages including [[Xibe language|Xibe]], [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]], [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Tibetan script|Tibetan]] and [[French language|French]]. It was also back-translated into Chinese in a bilingual Manchu-Chinese edition during the [[Yongzheng Emperor|Yongzheng]] period (1723–1735).<ref name="babelstone.co.uk" />

The French translation, ''San-koué-tchy (Ilan kouroun-i pithé): Histoire des Trois Royaumes'' (1845-1851), by [[Théodore Pavie]] was initially intended to include the full novel. However, only two volumes of a planned multi-volume set were published.<ref name="Bramao-Ramos">{{cite book 
|first=Paul |last=Bramao-Ramos
|date=2022
|title=History Retold: Premodern Chinese Texts in Western Translation
|volume=2
|chapter=Peritextual Performance: Théodore Pavie’s Histoire des Trois Royaumes
|pages=57{{ndash}}89
|publisher=Brill}}</ref>{{rp|p=65,86}}<ref name="Pavie v1">{{cite book 
|first=Théodore |last=Pavie
|date=1845
|title=San-Koué-Tchy, Ilan Kouroun-I Pithé, Histoire des Trois Royaumes
|volume=1
|publisher=Benjamin Duprat
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5akfAPcnjukC
|access-date=6 December 2025}}</ref><ref name="Pavie v2">{{cite book 
|first=Théodore |last=Pavie
|date=1851
|title=San-Koué-Tchy, Ilan Kouroun-I Pithé, Histoire des Trois Royaumes
|volume=2
|publisher=Benjamin Duprat
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yspCAQAAMAAJ
|access-date=6 December 2025}}</ref> Volume 2 ends with the preparation for the Battle of Fankou, corresponding to Chapter 35 in the Mao edition. Pavie also published one of the novel's stories, the execution of Yu Ji by [[Sun Ce#Literary depictions|Sun Ce]],<ref name="Pavie">{{cite journal
|first=Th.
|last=Pavie
|date=15 March 1851
|title=Yu-Ki le magicien, légende chinoise
|trans-title=Yu-Ki the Magician, Chinese Legend
|journal=Nouvelle Période
|publisher=Revue des Deux Mondes         
|language=fr
|volume=9
|issue=6
|pages=1129{{ndash}}1144
|jstor=44694217
|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44694217
|via=jstor.org
|access-date=2 December 2025}}</ref> as a novella in 1851.

=== Korean ===
The ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' has achieved the utmost "canonical status" in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.<ref name="Kwon book">{{cite book 
|first=Hyuk-chan|last=Kwon|date=2023|title=How Three Kingdoms Became a National Novel of Korea: From Sanguozhi Yanyi to Samgukchi|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|series=Brill’s Korean studies library|volume=8}}</ref>{{rp|p=1}} It was and is to this day massively popular in Korea where it has been modified and re-created to reflect cultural agendas.<ref name="Kwon book" />{{rp|p=1 note 1}} It has even been called "the national novel of Korea", and author Hyuk-chan Kwon adopted that designation in his 2023 book, ''How Three Kingdoms Became a National Novel of Korea: From Sanguozhi Yanyi to Samgukchi'' [i.e. from the Chinese to the Korean].<ref name="Kwon book" />{{rp|p=6}}

[[File:Rental copy Romance of Three Kingdoms-Vol 1-1906-cover binding & 1st page.jpg|thumb|Rental copy of ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', Vol. 1, 1906: cover with binding and first page. Handwritten in vernacular Korean.]]
[[File:Zhang Fei and Ma Chao-Korean-1919-cover & first page.jpg|thumb|''The True Story of Zhang Fei and Ma Chao'' Guangdong Bookstore, Beijing, 1919: cover and first page. Printed in vernacular Korean with metal type.]]
The ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' (Chen Shou's original historical chronicle) was imported to Korean kingdoms of [[Goguryeo]] and [[Goryeo]]. A commentary by [[Kim Pusik]] from 1145 CE praised the ruler-subject relationship of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang.<ref name="Kwon book" />{{rp|p=40}} During the [[Joseon]] dynasty, the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' became widespread as hand-written manuscripts and wooden block prints. Rental copies were affordable and popular. [[Ttakchibon]] editions (printed with metal type) loosely based on selected parts of the novel, also became available. ''Chang Pa Ma Cho'' [The True Story of Zhang Fei and Ma Chao], for example, is based on Chapters 27 to 73. It greatly overemphasizes their prowess by having them do feats originally carried out by Guan Yu and Zhao Zilong.<ref name="Kwon book" />{{rp|pp=120{{ndash}}130}}

However, there was resistance to the novel (and fiction in general) among the [[yangban]] [ruling class] literati for its historical inaccuracies and entertaining style. For example, Neo-Confucian scholar {{Interlanguage link|Ki Taesŭng|ko|기대승}} (1527–1572) admonished [[Seonjo of Joseon|King Seonjo]] not to read it, calling it "a collection of trivial sayings edited by some rascals". He was particularly critical of stories of Zhang Fei making ten thousand soldiers flee by producing one shout, as well as the Diaochan and Red Cliffs stories.<ref name="Kwon book" />{{rp|pp=14{{ndash}}15}}

However, acceptance of the novel dramatically improved following the [[Imjin War]] (when Joseon Korea was invaded by the Japanese) and the [[Qing invasion of Joseon|Qing invasion]]. The invasions created a surge of nationalism, and the novel became popular among all literate classes.<ref name="Kwon book" />{{rp|pp=40,72}}

Modern translations of the novel were initiated during the Japanese colonial period when a translation by [[Eiji Yoshikawa]] (first serialized in 1939) was circulated in Japan and Korea.<ref name="Kwon book" />{{rp|pp=109, 132{{ndash}}133, 137}} [[Yi Munyeol|Yi Mun-yol]] published a version in Korean in 1988. As of 2023, his translation of the novel has sold over 20 million copies, making it Korea's number one best-selling novel of all time.<ref name="Kwon book" />{{rp|p=145}}

The Eiji Yoshikawa and Yi Mun-yol versions were not mere simple translations. The Yoshikawa version has [[samurai]] overtones.<ref name="Kwon book" />{{rp|p=139}} For example, while Luo Guanzhong does not continue the story of Diaochan beyond the assassination of Dong Zhuo by Lü Bu (chapter 9), Yoshikawa extends the story and has her commit suicide to protect her honor."<ref name="Kwon thesis" />{{rp|p=294}} On the other hand, an extension her story by Yi depicts her as "an earthy and licentious woman rather than a martyr who sacrifices her chastity for the greater good".<ref name="Kwon thesis" />{{rp|p=296}}

In Korea, Guan Yu has become venerated in Buddhist tradition largely due to his representation in the ''Romance of the Thee Kingdoms''.<ref name="Kwon book" />{{rp|p=58}} This differs from the circumstance in China where Buddhists began veneration of Guan Yu centuries earlier. When a Chinese army was sent to Korea during the Imjin War to repel the Japanese invasion, the Ming generals insisted that the Koreans build a shrine to Guan Yu. The Korean leaders were opposed but forced to comply.

Nevertheless, as the war continued, the Koreans began to look to Guan Yu for help on the battlefield. Folk stories about his help were compiled into the novel ''[[Imjin nok]]''. In one of the stories, a leader of the Japanese army has a dream in which Guan Yu appears. His speech to the [[daimyo]] includes the lines:

{{blockquote
|text=I am Marquis of Shouting, Kuan Yunch’ang [Guan Yu], of the Three Kingdoms of the past. I am now entrusting myself to the state of Chosŏn [Joseon] to weather out the storm. Barbaric Japanese bandits, how dare you invade Chosŏn? When I beheaded the commanders of five passes, hundreds of thousands of heroes all died at my hands. … If you do not wish to meet sudden death, evacuate your position and retreat at once.|author=Hyuk-Chan Kwon (2023)}}

The reference to the five passes is based on the story in the novel in which Guan Yu kills six of Cao Cao's generals guarding five passes (chapter 27) {{mdash}} not the historical record.<ref name="Kwon book" />{{rp|p=64}}

After the war, the Ming Emperor required construction of a second, much grander temple. Construction of the second one, [[Dongmyo]] [the East Lord Guan temple] (still extant), was extraordinarily expensive and caused great hardship. Decades later, the Joseon rulers recognized the Guan Yu cult as a legitimate religion.<ref>{{cite journal
|first=Joshua|last=Van Lieu|date=2019|title=The Guan Yu Cult and Joseon-Qing Visions of State Legitimacy, 1882-1894|url=https://oak.go.kr/repository/journal/23093/rks_2019_22_02_87.pdf|journal=The Review of Korean Studies|volume=22|issue=2|pages=87{{ndash}}122|doi=10.25024/review.2019.22.2.005 |access-date=26 November 2025}}</ref>
Because of his heroic qualities, contemporary Koreans continue to accept Guan Yu as a "national hero".<ref name="Kwon book" />{{rp|p=66}}

[[File:Sam Kok (in Javaans schrift recto zijde).JPG|thumb|200px|A translated version of ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' in [[Javanese language|Javanese]], from early 20th-century Indonesia]]
[[File:Tamnan Nangsue Sam Kok (1928, cover).jpg|thumb|200px|The cover of a 1928 [[Thai language]] appendix of the novel titled ''History of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', with notes by Prince [[Damrong Rajanubhab]], from the [[Royal Society of Thailand]]. ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' has been described as having "a tremendous impact on the Thai worldview".<ref>{{cite book|title=Golden Dragon and Purple Phoenix|last=Lee|first=Khoon Choy|publisher=[[World Scientific]]|year=2013|isbn=9789814518499|page=16|quote=The novel had a tremendous impact on the Thai worldview.}}</ref>]]

===English ===
The ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' has been translated into English a number of times.

====Excerpts ====
The first known translation was performed in 1907 by John G. Steele and consisted of a single chapter excerpt that was distributed in China to students learning English at Presbyterian missionary schools.<ref name="taylor1998"/> Translations intended for British readers were published as journal articles. Jia Fang and Yanfang Hou list six journals with translations or introductions from 1816 to 1906.<ref>{{cite journal
|first1=Yanfang
|last1=Hou
|first2=Jia
|last2=Hou
|date=2021
|title=A Review of the Overseas Communication of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
|journal=IRA-International Journal of Education & Multidisciplinary Studies
|volume=17
|issue=1
|pages=35{{ndash}}44
|doi=10.21013/jems.v17.n1.p5
|url=https://research-advances.org/index.php/IJEMS/article/view/1588/1270
|access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref> The first of these to include a translation, ''The Death of the Celebrated Minister Tung-cho'' [Dong Zhuo], was published by Peter P. Thoms. It was serialized in ''[[The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany]]'' in three articles in 1920 and 1921, covering Chapters 8 and 9 of the novel.<ref name="Thoms part 1">{{cite journal
|first=Peter Perring
|last=Thoms
|date=1820
|title=The Death of the Celebrated Minister Tung-cho [part 1]
|journal=The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany
|volume=10
|issue=December
|pages=527{{ndash}}532
|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b398236&seq=535
|via=HathiTrust
|access-date=28 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="Thoms part 2">{{cite journal
|first=Peter Perring
|last=Thoms
|date=1821
|title=The Death of the Celebrated Minister Tung-cho [part 2]
|journal=The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany
|volume=11
|issue=February
|pages=109{{ndash}}114
|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044011684826&seq=115
|via=HathiTrust
|access-date=28 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="Thoms part 3">{{cite journal
|first=Peter Perring
|last=Thoms
|date=1821
|title=The Death of the Celebrated Minister Tung-cho [part 3]
|journal=The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany
|volume=11
|issue=March
|pages=233{{ndash}}242
|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044011684826&seq=239
|via=HathiTrust
|access-date=28 November 2025}}</ref> Thoms, a self-taught printer for the East India Company, was stationed in Macau. He considered it his mission to be mediator and a teacher of Chinese culture for the English. He misunderstood the ''Romance'' as history instead of a fictional novel, and modified the text to make it more accessible and educational to his readers.<ref name="Sojung Kim">{{cite journal
|first=Sojung
|last=Kim
|date=2023
|title=Spread of Romance of The Three Kingdoms to the West: focusing on the translation by Peter Perring Thoms
|journal=Journal of Chinese Language and Literature
|language=ko
|issue=94
|pages=317{{ndash}}340
|doi=10.15792/clsyn..94.202312.317
|url=https://journal.kci.go.kr/clsyn/archive/articleView?artiId=ART003036572
|via=Korea Journal Central
|access-date=28 November 2025}}</ref>

[[Herbert A. Giles]] included an excerpt in his 1923 ''Gems of Chinese Literature''.<ref>''Gems of Chinese Literature'' (Shanghai: Kelly & and Walsh, 2nd edition 1923):pp. 197-201.</ref> Z. Q. Parker published a 1925 translation containing four episodes from the novel including the events of the [[Battle of Red Cliffs]], while Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang published excerpts in 1981, including chapters 43–50.<ref name="taylor1998"/>

==== Abridged ====
In 1976, Moss Roberts published an abridged translation of the novel, presenting approximately one-fourth of the original text. This edition featured maps and over 40 woodblock illustrations derived from three Chinese versions of the work.<ref name="taylor1998" /> Designed to be accessible to college students and general readers, Roberts’ abridgment employed a mixed approach: translating entire chapters, providing partial translations of others, and summarizing the remainder in italicized text.<ref name="taylor1998" /> This translation includes approximately 100 pages of endnotes, detailed maps, and an extensive essay by Roberts discussing the text and its context.

In 2018, Penguin Classics released a new abridged translation by Martin Palmer, assisted by He Yun, Jay Ramsay, and Victoria Finlay. Palmer's version covers the full narrative by including at least portions of all 120 chapters, ensuring continuity without gaps in the story. Unlike Roberts' earlier approach, Palmer translated only the most significant episodes in full while summarizing the rest.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Medievalists.net |date=2024-10-05 |title=Which Translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms Should I Read? |url=https://www.medievalists.net/2024/10/translation-romance-three-kingdoms/ |access-date=2025-01-20 |website=Medievalists.net |language=en-US}}</ref>

====Unabridged====
A complete and faithful translation of the novel was published in two volumes in 1925 by [[Charles Henry Brewitt-Taylor]], a long time official of the [[Chinese Maritime Customs Service]].<ref name="taylor1998"/> The translation was well written, but lacked any supplementary materials such as maps or character lists that would aid Western readers; a 1959 reprint was published that included maps and an introduction by Roy Andrew Miller to assist foreign readers.<ref name="taylor1998"/>

After decades of work, Moss Roberts published a full translation in 1991 complete with an afterword, eleven maps, a list of characters, titles, terms, and offices, and almost 100 pages of notes from Mao Zonggang's commentaries and other scholarly sources.<ref name="taylor1998"/> Roberts's complete translation remains faithful to the original; it is reliable yet still matches the tone and style of the classic text.<ref name="taylor1998"/> Yang Ye, a professor in Chinese Literature at the [[UC Riverside]], wrote in ''Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English'' (1998) that Roberts's translation "supersedes Brewitt-Taylor's translation and will no doubt remain the definitive English version for many years to come".<ref name="taylor1998"/> Roberts's translation was republished in 1995 by the Foreign Languages Press without the illustrations.<ref name=ChineseBookshop>{{cite web|title=Romance of the Three Kingdoms|url=http://www.chinesebookshop.com/english/romance-of-the-three-kingdoms-english-3-volume-book-set.html|work=Chinese Bookshop|access-date=12 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615075904/http://www.chinesebookshop.com/english/romance-of-the-three-kingdoms-english-3-volume-book-set.html|archive-date=15 June 2012}}</ref>

In 2014, Tuttle published a new, three-volume translation of the novel, translated by Yu Sumei and edited by Ronald C. Iverson. According to its publisher, this translation is an unabridged "dynamic translation" intended to be more readable than past English translations of the novel.<ref>{{Cite web| url = http://www.tuttlepublishing.com/books-by-country/the-three-kingdoms-volume-1-the-sacred-oath| title = The Three Kingdoms, Volume 1: The Sacred Oath |website = Tuttle Publishing| access-date = 2016-02-27}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms]], list of historical people significant to the Three Kingdoms period (220–280)
* [[List of fictional people of the Three Kingdoms]], list of fictional people of the Three Kingdoms period (220–280)
* [[List of fictitious stories in Romance of the Three Kingdoms|List of fictitious stories in ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'']]
* [[Military history of the Three Kingdoms]]
* [[Timeline of the Three Kingdoms period]]

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

==References and further reading==
* {{cite book |last = Anonymous  |translator1-last = Idema |translator1-first= W. L. |translator2-first= Stephen H.|translator2-last= West|year = 2016 |title = Records of the Three Kingdoms in Plain Language |publisher = Hackett Publishing| location = Indianapolis, IN; Cambridge, MA |isbn = 9781624665233}} Translation of the 13th century anonymous ''Sanguozhi pinghua''.
* Besio, Kimberly Ann and Constantine Tung, eds., ''Three Kingdoms and Chinese Culture''. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007. {{ISBN|0791470113}}. Essays on this novel's literary aspects, use of history, and in contemporary popular culture.
* Hsia, Chih-tsing,"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms," in ''The Classic Chinese Novel: A Critical Introduction'' (1968) rpr. Cornell East Asia Series. Ithaca, N.Y.: East Asia Program, Cornell University, 1996.
* Li Chengli, Zhang Qirong, Wu Jingyu. ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms (illustrated in English and Chinese)'' (2008) [[Asiapac Books]]. {{ISBN|978-981-229-491-3}}
* {{cite book |last = Luo|first =Guanzhong |translator-first1=Moss |translator-last1=Roberts |year = 1991 |title = Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel |publisher = University of California Press; Foreign Languages Press| location = Berkeley; Beijing |isbn = 0520068211}}
*{{cite book | first=Guanzhong | last=Luo | others=English translation by [[Charles H. Brewitt-Taylor]], Introduction by Robert E. Hegel | title=Romance of the Three Kingdoms |volume=1 | publisher=Tuttle Publishing | location=[[Singapore]] |orig-year=1925 | year=2002 |isbn=9780804834674}}
*{{cite book | first=Guanzhong | last=Luo | others=English translation by Charles H. Brewitt-Taylor, Introduction by Robert E. Hegel | title=Romance of the Three Kingdoms | volume=2 | publisher=Tuttle Publishing | location=[[Singapore]] | orig-year=1925 | year=2002 | isbn=9780804834681 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/rangsamkoktngcha00luog }}
*{{cite book | first=Guanzhong | last=Luo | others=English translation by Moss Roberts, Introduction by Shi Changyu | title=Three Kingdoms | publisher=Foreign Language Press | location=[[Beijing]] | year=2006 | isbn=7-119-00590-1}}
*{{cite book |first=Guanzhong |last=Luo |others=English translation by Yu Sumei, Edited by Ronald C. Iverson |title=The Three Kingdoms |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |location=[[Singapore]] |year=2014 |volume=1 |isbn=9780804843935}}
*{{cite book |first=Guanzhong |last=Luo |others=English translation by Yu Sumei, Edited by Ronald C. Iverson |title=The Three Kingdoms |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |location=[[Singapore]] |year=2014 |volume=2 |isbn=9780804843942}}
*{{cite book |first=Guanzhong |last=Luo |others=English translation by Yu Sumei, Edited by Ronald C. Iverson |title=The Three Kingdoms |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |location=[[Singapore]] |year=2014 |volume=3 |isbn=9780804843959}}
*{{Cite journal |last=McLaren |first=Anne E. |date=2012 |title=Writing History, Writing Fiction: The Remaking of Cao Cao in Song Historiography |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/mon.2012.60.1.003 |journal=Monumenta Serica |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=45–69 |doi=10.1179/mon.2012.60.1.003 |issn=0254-9948 |s2cid=193917398|url-access=subscription }}
*{{cite book |first=Guanzhong |last=Luo |others=Italian translation by Vincenzo Cannata |title=Il Romanzo dei Tre Regni, 3 vols. |publisher=Editrice Luni |location=[[Milan]] |year=2022 |isbn = 978-88-7984-765-0}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|Translation:Romance of the Three Kingdoms|Translation:''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''}}
{{Commons category}}
{{wikiversity|Romance of the Three Kingdoms (by Luo Guanzhong)}}
*
* [https://chinesenotes.com/sanguoyanyi.html Chinese text with embedded Chinese-English dictionary] at Chinese Notes
* [https://ctext.org/sanguo-yanyi Bilingual Chinese-English version] at the Chinese Text Project

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