The Literature Book

67

Many editions of Romance of the

Three Kingdoms were richly illustrated,

which helped to make the text and

stories accessible to ordinary Chinese

people, not just the elite.

See also: The Tale of Genji 47

RENAISSANCE TO ENLIGHTENMENT

years after the events it describes,

it takes as its historical inspiration

the History of the Three Kingdoms,

written in the 4th century ce.

Scholars believe that Romance

of the Three Kingdoms was

written nearly 250 years before Don

Quixote, which is often regarded

as the first great European novel.

But, perhaps surprisingly, this

early Chinese classic did not spark

a profusion of prose literature—

indeed, the “four great classics”

were published over a period of

400 years. However, Romance of

the Three Kingdoms has enduring

appeal: it has never been out of

print, and its scenes are so well

known that they are familiar to

Chinese speakers who have not

even read the book. Its success is

partly assured by its conventional,

conservative narrative: villains

always get their comeuppance,

and order is always restored.

One of the major themes of

the book is loyalty. In perhaps the

most famous scene, the Oath in

the Peach Garden, future ruler

Liu Bei persuades two men to

join him in an oath of fraternity,

thereby going against what was at

the time society’s strongest bond:

unquestioning loyalty to family.

It is a powerful scene that has been

invoked by Chinese societies and

fraternities of all kinds ever since.

Despite the popularity of

Romance of the Three Kingdoms,

the other classics have not been

quite so widely read. Nevertheless,

all four have continued to be

enjoyed and studied (Journey

to the West has been widely

acclaimed outside China), and

are regarded as the pinnacles

of popular Chinese literature. ■

169–280 ce: the historical

events—the breakup of the

Han dynasty and its eventual

reunification—take place.

4th century ce: the story

is written down by Chen

Shou as History of the

Three Kingdoms.

14th century: Luo

Guanzhong “authors” the

huge collection of stories,

both historical and fictional,

editing and collating the text.

4th–14th centuries: many

of the hundreds of stories

become mythologized, told

and retold by oral storytellers.

14th–16th centuries:

the novel is copied and

republished many times

by anonymous hands.

1522 : the earliest surviving

text of Romance of the Three

Kingdoms is published.

History of the text

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