Historical Novel: Romance of the Three Kingdoms

"The waters of the mighty Yangtzi flow eastward, its spray drowning countless heroes." Despite changes in time and space and the disappearance of the glint and flash of cold steel, the sky of history is still starry, colorful and lively. As a long historical novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms vividly and fully presents a picture of heroes in troubled times. This long chapter-based novel with a length of 800,000 Chinese characters depicts a series of grand historical scenes and shapes numerous images of heroes of ideals and integrity against the backdrop of the political and military struggles in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms Period. It is spread widely among people.

It is said that the author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is Luo Guanzhong (c. 1330-c. 1400). He created this long novel on the basis of the historical book Annals of the Three Kingdoms written by Chen Shou (233-297) and stories of heroes spreading among people.

Picture of Three Visits and One Encounter, painted by Sun Yi in the Qing Dynasty. This picture is based on the story of the three visits paid by Liu Bei to the thatched cottage to request Zhuge Liang to leave the mountain in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms mainly depicts the struggles among the three political and military groups of Wei, Shu and Wu, which exist relying on their heroic figures respectively. In the book, there are more than 1,200 characters with names, among whom the most influential ones are "the most legendary virtuous prime minister of all times" Zhuge Liang, "the most legendary famous general of all times" Guan Yu and "the most legendary capable but crafty person of all times" Cao Cao. There are also many other characters with unique personalities such as Lii Bu who is the bravest person in the army, Zhang Fei who is loyal but rash, Huang Zhong who is old but vigorous and Sima Yi who is shrewd and crafty.

Because the main ideological tendency of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is "supporting Liu and opposing Cao," characters of the Kingdom of Shu-Han are depicted in great detail. The most prominent civil character is Zhuge Liang, and the most prominent martial character is Guan Yu. Zhuge Liang assists Liu Bei and his son for 30 years, loyal to the throne, loving the people, totally devoted, having wonderful foresight and leaving much-told ancient tales such as "the Longzhong Plan," "borrowing arrows with thatched boats" and "the empty-city stratagem."

Guan Yu is reputed as a "military sage." After Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and he swear to be brothers in the peach garden, he follows Liu Bei to restore the Han Dynasty all his life. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu's image is complex and three-dimensional: "slaying Hua Xiong before wine gets cold" shows his bravery, "passing through five check-points and slaying six generals" shows his loyalty, "allowing Cao Cao to pass through the Huarong Trail" shows his righteousness, "scraping the poison off the bone" shows his fortitude, and "fleeing to Mai in defeat" shows his self-conceit.

The Cao-Wei group is another main political and military group with Cao Cao as the main representative. On the one hand, he has great talent and bold vision, goes on a punitive expedition against Dong Zhuo, eliminates Yua Shao, has garrison troops or peasants open up wasteland, grow food grain and defend border areas, unites the north, "controls the emperor and commands the nobles;" on the other hand, he is crafty and cruel, feels no guilt for killing the whole family of his lifesaver Lii Boshe by mistake, and orders his troops to massacre all the residents in Xuzhou after capturing the city. "Better to wrong the world than have it wrong me" is his philosophy of life. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao's image of a capable but crafty person is shown to the world.

In comparison, the Sun-Wu group in Romance of the Three Kingdoms is in a subordinate position in conflicts. Though the Wu Kingdom had numerous famous generals and outstanding talents such as Sun Jian, his sons Sun Ce and Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, Lu Su, Lii Meng and Lu Xun, the author adopted the attitude of belittling the emperors and ministers of the Wu Kingdom. For example, though Zhou Yu achieved his ambition in his early years and commanded the Sun-Wu allied forces to utterly defeat Cao Cao at the Red Cliff, he is narrow-minded and outwitted by Zhuge Liang, only leaving a sigh: "Zhou Yu has already been born, so why was Zhuge Liang ever born?"

Romance of the Three Kingdoms prominently shows the tendency of "supporting Liu and opposing Cao" because on the one hand Liu Bei is a member of the imperial family of the Han Dynasty and is "legitimate" according to Confucian views and on the other hand the Shu-Han group represents "benevolent governance." Liu Bei is a very fair and honest person and "would rather die than do anything ungrateful;" the core of his political thought is "benevolent governance" based on "people's support." Liu Bei has the air of a benevolent emperor. His fraternity with Guan Yu and Liu Bei and the emperor-minister relationship between him and Zhuge Liang and others constitute the Shu-Han Kingdom's "benevolent governance," which is the political paradigm eulogized in Romance of the Three Kingdoms with emphasis.

In terms of structures, Romance of the Three Kingdoms realized transition from biographical short legends of the Tang Dynasty to comprehensive long legends. The vertical structure developing according to the time order and the horizontal structure centering on contemporary characters' activities are mingled. In terms of language, the author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms drew on the experience of classical Chinese short novel creation. "Meanings are not profound, and words are not vulgar." It is elegant but not abstruse, smooth but not vulgar. Descriptions of characters and objects are quite vivid and expressive, often manifesting their facial expressions in very few words. It is deeply loved by all people.

The turmoil in the troubled times attributed a unique martial quality to Romance of the Three Kingdoms as a historical novel depicting the Three Kingdoms Period. Romance of the Three Kingdoms unfolds against the backdrop of war from beginning to end. The author was very good at depicting war scenes and very good at depicting heroic figures under the environment of war such as Lu Bu fighting the three heroes, Guan Yu slaying Hua Xiong before wine gets cold, Zhang Fei shouting at the Changban Slope and Cao Cao composing poems while holding the lance horizontally in the saddle, using many methods including both direct narration and indirect description, both detailed depiction and simple sketching, and both depiction of reality with imagination and depiction of imagination with reality.

Meanwhile, the author also successfully handled the relationship between history and literature, and formed the artistic characteristic of "70% real and 30% imagined." While handling the relationship between historical facts and literary fictions, Romance of the Three Kingdoms sticks to the following main principles: first, they should be conducive to displaying characters' personalities more prominently; second, they should be conducive to making plots full of twists and turns, vivid and moving; third, they should comply with the whole book's overall political and moral tendency of "supporting Liu and abasing Cao." Such handling of the relationship between imagination and reality leads to the huge artistic impact and appeal of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and turns it into a legend of heroes with far-reaching influence and an ode to people with lofty ideals.