Sānguó Yǎnyì 三國演義
Romance of the Three Kingdoms by 羅貫中 (撰)
About the work
The Sānguó Yǎnyì 三國演義, whose full earlier title is Sānguó Zhì Tōngsú Yǎnyì 三國志通俗演義 (“Elaboration of the Meaning of the Records of the Three Kingdoms to Reach the Masses”), is one of the canonical works of Chinese vernacular fiction and the preeminent historical novel of the late imperial period. Conventionally attributed to Luó Guànzhōng 羅貫中 (born ca. 1315), it covers the fortunes of the empire from the collapse of the Hàn dynasty (beginning in 168 CE) through the period of the Three Kingdoms — the rival states of Wèi 魏, Shǔ 蜀, and Wú 吳 — to reunification under the Jìn 晉 dynasty in 280 CE. The Kanripo text follows the standard 120-chapter recension associated with the Máo Zōnggāng 毛宗崗 edition of 1679, which shortened an earlier form and famously added the opening sentence on the dynastic cycle: “The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide” 分久必合，合久必分.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The Sānguó Yǎnyì grew from a long tradition of popular storytelling, ballads, and dramatic cycles about the Three Kingdoms period. Its immediate textual antecedents include the Sānguó Zhì Pínghuà 三國志平話 (a Song-Yuan chantefable) and various zájù 雜劇 dramas on Three Kingdoms heroes. The novel weaves together material from the official Sānguó Zhì 三國志 (compiled by Chén Shòu 陳壽, fl. 3rd century CE) and the much fuller Sānguó Zhì Zhùjié 三國志注解 of Péi Sōngzhī 裴松之 (fl. early 5th century CE), alongside oral legend and literary invention.
Attribution to Luó Guànzhōng 羅貫中 (born ca. 1315, fl. late 14th century) is traditional but rests on limited contemporary documentation; Luó is known also as the attributed author of several other historical novels. The earliest extant printed edition dates from 1522 (Jiājìng 嘉靖 reign). The text circulated in various recensions of differing length and chapter division before the Máo Zōnggāng 毛宗崗 commentary edition of 1679 became the canonical text. The Máo edition reduced an earlier 240-chapter structure to 120 chapters, polished the prose and verse, and added extensive interlinear and postchapter commentary. Since 1679 the novel has been known by the short title Sānguó Yǎnyì 三國演義 rather than the full Sānguó Zhì Tōngsú Yǎnyì.
The narrative famously tilts its moral sympathies toward the Shǔ-Hàn 蜀漢 cause (the line of Liú Bèi 劉備, presented as the legitimate heir of the Hàn dynasty) against the Wèi of Cáo Cāo 曹操 and the Wú of Sūn Quán 孫權. The work’s strategic lore — concentrated above all in the figure of Zhūgě Liàng 諸葛亮 — became embedded in Chinese political and military culture.
The Kanripo text (KR4k0063) corresponds to the standard Máo recension. A closely related text, the Jiājìng-era recension, is represented elsewhere in the Kanripo corpus. Wilkinson (§31.2.1) cites the Jiājìng (1522–66) edition as the earliest extant and notes the Máo 1679 edition as the received text.
Translations and research
- Roberts, Moss, tr. Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel. 3 vols. University of California Press / Foreign Languages Press, 1991. Full English translation with afterword.
- Plaks, Andrew H. The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel. Princeton University Press, 1987.
- Besio, Kimberley, and Constantine Tung, ed. Three Kingdoms and Chinese Culture. SUNY Press, 2007.
- McLaren, Anne E. “History repackaged in the age of print: The Sanguo zhi and Sanguo yanyi.” BSOAS 69.2 (2006): 293–313.
- Idema, Wilt, and Stephen West, tr. Records of the Three Kingdoms in Plain Language (Sanguozhi Pinghua). Hackett, 2016.
- Shen Pojun 沈伯俊 and Tan Liangxiao 谭良啸, eds. Sānguó Yǎnyì Dà Cídiǎn 三国演义大辞典. Zhonghua, 2007 (1989). Dictionary of the novel’s language and characters.
- Rolston, David L., ed. How to Read the Chinese Novel. Princeton University Press, 1990. Contains Máo Zōnggāng’s commentary in translation.
Other points of interest
The novel contains approximately 1,200 named characters — more than any other Chinese classical novel (Wilkinson §31.2.1). The opening/closing phrase about dynastic alternation was added by the Máo edition and is now among the most frequently cited lines in the entire classical literary tradition.