The Romance of Three Kingdoms is a classic example of historical novel in Chinese literature. This novel is deeply rooted into the Chinese history and vividly portrays the ups and downs of Han and Jin dynasties. The stories of the novel actually took place some 1800 years ago, some time during the last period of Han dynasty.
“The Romance of Three Kingdoms” covers a vast period of Chinese history. The incident of this novel begins in 168 AD and ends with the unification of the land in 280 AD. So it describes over 110 years of Chinese history. The author of this novel is Luo Guanzhong.
This classic Chinese historical novel gives you a full cycle of incidents: the fall of the Han Dynasty under Emperor Ling, the Yellow Scarves Revolution, the division of the Empire into three smaller kingdoms- Shu, Wei and Wu- and the unification of the land in Jin Dynasty.
You can divide this superb piece of Chinese literature into two divisions. The first eighty chapters of the novel focus on the last years of Xian, the last Emperor of Han Dynasty. This division gives you a clear picture of the reasons that ultimately led to the downfall of a 400 year old dynasty. The rest of the chapters deal with “Sanguo” periods of Chinese history i.e. division of the empire into three kingdoms. And finally this novel ends with the reunification of land under Jin Dynasty.
Almost all the characters in this novel have some mythical or superhuman characteristics. Oral stories of Three Kingdoms circulated in ancient China and some attempts were made to chronicle these oral stories into one organic whole. But ultimately Guanzhong successfully wrote the history of these incidents. You have to spend only $ 40 to have one copy of this fascinating instance of Chinese literature.