W
hen the last Han emperor was killed in 220, there were
three powerful warlord families who each hoped to restore
order quickly and establish a new and long-lived empire in
its place. In the north, the Cao family of Han offi cials steadily gained
power for themselves, and in 220 they proclaimed a new dynasty, the
Wei. In the southwest (today’s Sichuan) Liu Bei, a distant relative of
the Han ruling family, proclaimed the Shu Han dynasty (Shu being the
name then for that region), which he saw as the rightful successor to
the great Han; and in the lower Yangzi River valley Sun Quan, another
powerful general, proclaimed the Wu dynasty.
These three rivals were later immortalized in one of China’s greatest
novels,The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which weaves together
many historical tales and popular stories to portray the third century ce
as a time of great military heroism and bravery, as well as treachery and
betrayal. All Chinese in modern times, from primary school children to
illiterate peasants and artisans, are familiar with the great heroes of The
Romance of the Three Kingdoms. There is a subtle irony in this novel
as well, for it shows that the virtuous do not always win power over
their rivals, and it suggests that the Mandate of Heaven will likely go to
the cleverest general with the strongest battalions rather than the wisest
or most moral leader. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms may be the
second most important book, after the Analects of Confucius, for an
understanding of Chinese culture.^1
Despite the bravery, strength, and treachery of the warlords of the
Three Kingdoms era, none of them came close to conquering all of the
former Han dynastic territories. Instead they only managed to destroy
the old Han order. In 263 the Wei forces defeated the Shu Han in the
southwest, but only two years later a former Wei general removed the Wei
emperor and proclaimed the Jin dynasty. In 280, the Jin defeated the Wu
state in the Yangzi valley of central China, thus briefl y unifying the empire
under central control. But the Jin was itself short-lived, as mounted Xiongnu
tribesmen, with improved effi ciency through the recent invention of
chapter 3