Romance of the Three Kingdoms Interpretation

Author: Zeng Zhihua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: This book is based on historical facts and adopts a Q&A format. It extracts representative and valuable questions from classical texts and provides concise answers based on the content of the original sources, aiming to achieve the purpose of "using the original soup to digest the original food." It revitalizes the cold, lifeless data with the warmth of life. The content covers various aspects of politics, economy, culture, and social life. In terms of language, it uses clear and readable vernacular, avoiding the dryness of general history books while also avoiding the suspicion of arbitrary and playful "pop history." The real stories and fascinating interpretations will take you into the long and winding river of Chinese history, allowing you to experience the cruelty and indifference of dynastic transitions, appreciate the strategic brilliance of emperors, generals, and ministers, marvel at the enduring splendor of ancient culture, and help you understand the general outline of Chinese history, deeply appreciating the joy of reading history.
The Records of the Three Kingdoms is also highly unique in its format. Among the "Four Early Histories" in the "Twenty-Four Histories," it was written after the Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han, but far before the Book of the Later Han. However, the Records of the Three Kingdoms did not simply copy the formats of the Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han. The Records of the Grand Historian is a comprehensive history in the annals-and-biographies style, while the Book of Han is a history in the annals-and-biographies style covering a specific period. Chen Shou, however, divided the Records of the Three Kingdoms into three separate books: the Book of Wei, the Book of Wu, and the Book of Shu. In its early days, these three books circulated separately and were not combined, making it unique among the dynastic histories. Although the Records of the Three Kingdoms covers the history of the three states of Wei, Shu, and Wu, it does not objectively narrate historical events or present historical figures. Instead, it takes the state of Cao Wei as the legitimate dynasty, which is why the accounts of the states of Wu and Shu in the book have a somewhat subjective inclination.