Romance of the three kingdoms

Written sometime in the fourteenth-century, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" by the famed Chinese writer and playwright Luo Guanzhong, is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature and its influence in China and East Asia can be compared to Shakespeare in England and Europe. This popular tale is remarkable for its length at 800,000 words and its impressive cast of nearly one thousand dramatic characters. The story, which contains elements of true historical accounts mixed with myth and legend, is set during the tumultuous end of the Han dynasty in 169 AD and ends with the reunification of the country in 280 AD. This time was known as the "Three Kingdoms" period in Chinese history and is famous for the battles waged by feudal lords and their loyal retainers as they fought with each other to either replace the fading Han dynasty or restore it to its former power. The story follows hundreds of characters during this time of unrest and conflict and focuses on the politics, diplomacy, and struggle for power of the time. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper and follows the translation of C. H. Brewitt-Taylor.

What Hacker News says

rKarpinskiFeb 2024

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

It's about a multi-decade civil war almost 2 thousand years ago & is the oldest of their classic novels and the characters are all household names.

And many similar character types ... Diaochan <> Hellen, Lu Bu <> Achilles, Zhuge Liang <> Odysseus etc.

thread

gavmorMay 2022

The indie wuxia TTRPG "Hearts of Wulin"[0] has an expansion appendix, including:

- Han Feizi by Han Fei

- Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji) by Sima Qian

- The Book of Han

- The Book of Later Han

- Nie Yinniang

- The Kunlun Slave

- Thirteenth Madam Jing

- Red String

- The Bearded Warrior

- Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong

- Water Margin by Shi Na’an

- Justice Bao stories from Sanxia Wuyi and Xiaowuyi

- Gong’an Qiwen

- Ernii Yingxiong Zhuan

Works by Jin Yong

- The Book and the Sword

- The Condor trilogy

- The Smiling, Proud Wanderer

- The Deer and the Cauldron

- Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils

I've enjoyed one retelling of the Water Margin in podcast form[1], but struggled through available Jin Yong wuxia TV[2].

0. https://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/hearts-of-wulin.html

1. https://pca.st/podcast/daa596d0-eff2-0136-324d-08b04944ede4

2. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzfNoYeTnhXL-HfBWz0tCe5Ep...

thread

paraditeDec 2021

One of my favourite quotes is from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". It notes an observation that I find generally applicable to many things in life: "Those long divided shall be united; those long united shall be divided: such is the way of the universe."

Original quote in Chinese: ＂话说天下大势，分久必合，合久必分。＂

thread

clockwork123512Dec 2021

Thanks for the recommendations — John Cho was also great in "Searching" (a thriller about a Korean-American who tries to find his daughter who disappears). Old classical literature from China (especially "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" about the power struggles in the fall of the Han dynasty) has been a good source for positive role models, too.

I wish the Wolf Warrior movies could be a way to guide China's government to what it could be (a positive geopolitical force that can help). They're more fantasy than reality, though; I can't ever trust them as a Canadian, after they arbitrarily detained two fellow citizens (the two Michaels) [0] for over 1,000 days as part of a geopolitical game [1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detention_of_Michael_Spavor_an...

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58687071

thread

cbanekSep 2019

The Prince by Machiavelli, 1532

Chuang-tzu, 4th century BC

The Art of War by Sun Tzu, 5th century BC

Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, 14th century AD

thread

lunaruJul 2018

I recommend Journey to the West out of the four. Kind of like an RPG-esque journey about a monkey and his gang traveling in search of Buddhist scriptures. You'll get to learn about Sun Wukong, who is the basis for a lot of Chinese, Japanese, and (I believe?) Korean spin-off characters, like Goku from Dragonball[1]

Another good option is Romance of the Three Kingdoms which will cover a good portion of Chinese history (in a mythological way). A lot of the characters like Zhu Geliang [2] are still highly influential in modern Chinese culture.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong#Influence [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuge_Liang

thread