{"id":43,"date":"2020-11-01T14:27:43","date_gmt":"2020-11-01T14:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transnationalhistory.net\/history\/?p=43"},"modified":"2020-11-01T14:35:55","modified_gmt":"2020-11-01T14:35:55","slug":"records-of-the-three-kingdoms-accurate-and-informational","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transnationalhistory.net\/history\/2020\/11\/01\/records-of-the-three-kingdoms-accurate-and-informational\/","title":{"rendered":"Records of the Three Kingdoms: Accurate and Informational?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Three Kingdoms period\u00a0of China is one of the most heavily discussed and talked about periods of Chinese history for historians.\u00a0It is also an area in time in which little accurate historical information exists. The greatest source of information on this period comes from the work\u00a0Records of the Three Kingdoms<\/em>\u00a0by Chen Shou.\u00a0But how does this source operate? Does\u00a0the source\u00a0do a good job in describing the Three Kingdoms period in an accurate and\u00a0informational manner.\u00a0This post will look at two things \u2013 the first is who Chen Shou was and the second is\u00a0how\u00a0Records of the Three Kingdoms<\/em>\u00a0tells the story of the Three Kingdoms, before using that to answer the above questions.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, who was Chen Shou. Chen Shou was a historian and transcriber during the later period of the Three Kingdoms and then onto the Jin Dynasty that followed. [[ West, Stephen H., and Idema, Wilt L., Records of the Three Kingdoms in Plain Language (Introduction)<\/em>, 2016, p. xv. ]]  He first worked for Shu Han, one faction of the Three Kingdoms period that ruled over the southwest portion of China from its (Shu Han\u2019s) capital of Chengdu. [[ West and Wilt, Records in Plain Language<\/em>, p.xv. ]] This gave Chen Shou firsthand viewings to the workings of Shu Han and its officers, as well as some information on the other kingdoms of Wei and Wu. After the fall of Shu Han, Chen Shou was able to find work in the kingdom that conquered it \u2013 Wei. [[ Ibid<\/em>, p.xv ]] This would give him further information on the officers of Wei. After the collapse and integration of Wu and the deposition of the last Wei Emperor by Sima Yan, Chen Shou found himself working for the newly established Jin Dynasty, and it was during this time that Chen Shou wrote Records of the Three Kingdoms<\/em>. [[ Ibid<\/em>, p.xv ]] Chen Shou died in the year 297. This leads us into the second talking point – how Records of the Three Kingdoms is written.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi<\/em>) is divided into three books and contains sixty-five volumes. The books are called The Book of Wei<\/em>, The Book of Shu<\/em>, and The Book of Wu<\/em>, and each gives information on the various individuals of renown in the style of a biographical text. [[ Ibid<\/em>, p.xv ]] Chen Shou also grouped some of the biographies together while writing others on their own. For example, one chapter is the biography of Liu Bei, a major player in the Three Kingdoms period and the founder of Shu Han. [[ Ibid<\/em>, p.xv ]] Yet, the biographies of the five generals of Shu \u2013 Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Zhao Yun, and Huang Zhong – are all grouped together. [[ Ibid<\/em>, p.xv ]] Chen Shou acquired the information for his work quite easily. For The Book of Shu<\/em>, due to his role in Shu Han, Chen Shou simply relied on his memory to provide the proper information, and most likely supplemented it with surviving accounts and records. And while he worked for the Jin Dynasty, Chen Shou had access to the records of the Wei and Wu officials from the time period. Now that this has been established, the above asked questions can be answered, with how Records of the Three Kingdoms operates being the first.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, some clarification \u2013 when thinking of the word \u2018operate\u2019 it would be best if, due to the context, one interprets it as \u2018how does Chen Shou use his work to inform others of the Three Kingdoms period?\u2019. With that in mind the question \u2018how does this source operate?\u2019 can now be answered. Chen Shou\u2019s style of writing \u2013 the biographies of the officials of note of the Three Kingdoms period \u2013 does not provide a proper narrative structure. [[ Ibid<\/em>, p.xv ]] Yet, that was not his intention. Chen Shou\u2019s writing contains sparse language, a prose style that isn\u2019t flowery and wordy, meaning his goal was to deliver information, not tell a story. [[ Ibid<\/em>, p.xv ]] Along with that, Chen Shou\u2019s works often have his own moral evaluations of the characters, criticizing or praising them for their deeds. [[ Ibid<\/em>, p.xv ]] Thus, instead of a narrative, Records of the Three Kingdoms<\/em> operates as a book on historical figures, imparting their deeds on the next generation, while also giving critics of their moral character, thus operating as a guide on morality.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this established, one can finally answer the question \u2018does Records of the Three Kingdoms<\/em> do a good job in describing the Three Kingdoms period in an accurate and informational manner?\u2019. The answer for that is, quite simply, yes, it does. The goal, as derived from Chen Shou\u2019s use of sparse prose and his moral evolutions, was not to tell a grand epic \u2013 this would be the Romance of the Three Kingdoms \u2013 but rather, to teach. Chen Shou wanted to teach to others about this period, informing them in the simplest of ways about the officials and leaders of this period, while offering his own judgements on their actions and character. While some may claim that his work may contain bias \u2013 if not from him working for Shu Han first, then from him working for the Jin Dynasty \u2013 it cannot be said that Records of the Three Kingdoms<\/em> does not deliver information on the Three Kingdoms period in an accurate and informational manner. As such, despite its unusually way of presenting information, Records of the Three Kingdoms<\/em> does indeed deliver information in a way that is both accurate and informational. This would only grow as, throughout the years, others would make annotations and commentaries on Records of the Three Kingdoms.<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Three Kingdoms period\u00a0of China is one of the most heavily discussed and talked about periods of Chinese history for historians.\u00a0It is also an area in time in which little accurate historical information exists. The greatest source of information on this period comes from the work\u00a0Records of the Three Kingdoms\u00a0by Chen Shou.\u00a0But how does this … Continue reading “Records of the Three Kingdoms: Accurate and Informational?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transnationalhistory.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transnationalhistory.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transnationalhistory.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transnationalhistory.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transnationalhistory.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.transnationalhistory.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57,"href":"https:\/\/www.transnationalhistory.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions\/57"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transnationalhistory.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transnationalhistory.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transnationalhistory.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}