China’s Greatest Novel

“ All under heaven under its sway,
What is long divided must unite;
Long united, it must divide. 

話說天下大勢,
分久必合，
合久必分”
- Epigraph to The Three Kingdoms.

So begins the earliest Chinese novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This stoic observation—that the rise and fall of dynasties is ruled not by man, but by the inevitable swaying pendulum of fate—sets reader expectations for the ensuing narration of a historic, century-long power struggle among three kingdoms. Based on a long storytelling tradition, the novel details this epic battle of will and ambition that began roughly from 180 CE as the mighty Han Dynasty crumbled, and continued until reunification under the Western Jin in 280 CE.

Authorship of Three Kingdoms is attributed to a fourteenth century playwright, Luo Guanzhong. He likely compiled the novel from popular plays and storyteller tales prevalent in urban market places during his time.

The conflict between idealistic Confucian political theory on one hand, and on the other, the harsh reality that pure amoral pragmatism gains allies and wins battles, is a theme throughout Three Kingdoms. Dramatic tension often comes from hard choices and overarching moral questions. Can the moral purists outwit the ambitious schemers? Will this character prove to be a purist, or a schemer? What does loyalty mean? What makes a good king?

The novel itself is epic. The standard Qing Dynasty edition of Three Kingdoms has 750,000 words, 120 chapters, hundreds of characters, and 24 volumes. The novel’s turbulent plots and subplots are as central to popular entertainment in China today as they were fifteen hundred years ago when these story cycles first entered the culture. The work is frequently cited as China's greatest novel. The influence on Asian culture is akin to Shakespeare's in the West. Metaphors, adages, phrases, poems, and characters from Three Kingdoms permeate Chinese language, literature and thought.

© 2023 James Whipple Miller