An outline, era by era

Three Kingdoms and period of division

Classical Antiquity · ~500 BCE – ~500 CE

The Three Kingdoms period is the age of division in China that followed the fall of the Han dynasty. The last Han emperor was forced to abdicate in 220 CE, and three states then claimed the heritage of Han: Wei in the north, Shu in the southwest and Wu in the southeast. The usual end date is 280 CE, when the Jin dynasty conquered Wu and briefly reunited the country.

The unity did not last. From the early fourth century, northern China was ruled by a succession of states founded by peoples from the steppe frontier, while Chinese courts moved south to Jiankang (modern Nanjing). This long period of division, often called the Northern and Southern dynasties, lasted until the Sui reunified China in 589. It reshaped the population, religion and politics of China. Buddhism spread widely, the south was settled and developed, and the northern and southern traditions that later fed into the Sui and Tang were formed.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The Yellow Turban rebellion

    Event

    What happened

    In 184 CE a religious movement led by Zhang Jue rises across northern and eastern China, its followers wearing yellow headcloths. The Han court puts the rebellion down within a year, but only by giving regional commanders new military powers. Smaller rebel bands remain active for years.

    The rest is history

    The rebellion exposed how weak the central government had become. Generals and governors raised private armies and kept them. Historians broadly agree that this helped create the warlords who later divided the empire, though court factions and famine also played a part. The Han dynasty lasted formally for another thirty-six years.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryFan Ye. Hou Han shu (Book of the Later Han). Chinese dynastic history, 5th century CE.
    2. Bookde Crespigny, Rafe. Generals of the South: The Foundation and Early History of the Three Kingdoms State of Wu. Canberra: Australian National University, 1990.

  2. Cao Cao and the rise of the warlords

    Event

    What happened

    In 189 CE the general Dong Zhuo seizes the capital Luoyang and the young emperor, and warlords form a coalition against him. In 196 CE Cao Cao takes the emperor Xian into his own care at Xu. In 200 CE Cao Cao defeats his rival Yuan Shao at Guandu, and by 207 CE he controls most of northern China.

    The rest is history

    Holding the emperor gave Cao Cao legitimacy while he built up his power. His campaign to take the south was stopped at Red Cliffs in 208 CE by the combined forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei. That defeat fixed the geography of the later three-way division. Cao Cao died in 220 CE.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryChen Shou. Sanguo zhi (Records of the Three Kingdoms). Chinese history, c. 280 CE, with commentary by Pei Songzhi, 429 CE.
    2. Bookde Crespigny, Rafe. Imperial Warlord: A Biography of Cao Cao, 155-220 AD. Leiden: Brill, 2010.

  3. The three kingdoms are proclaimed

    Event

    What happened

    In 220 CE Cao Cao's son Cao Pi accepts the abdication of Emperor Xian and founds the state of Wei. In 221 CE Liu Bei declares himself emperor in Chengdu, founding Shu Han. In 229 CE Sun Quan takes the imperial title, founding Wu.

    The rest is history

    Each state claimed to be the rightful ruler of all China, but none could defeat the others. Wei was far the largest and most populous. Shu was the first to fall, conquered by Wei in 263 CE. Sima Yan then replaced the Wei ruler in 266 CE and founded the Jin dynasty. Jin conquered Wu in 280 CE.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryChen Shou. Sanguo zhi (Records of the Three Kingdoms). Chinese history, c. 280 CE.
    2. BookLewis, Mark Edward. China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.

  4. The War of the Eight Princes

    Event

    What happened

    After the death of Emperor Wu of Jin in 290 CE, rival princes of the imperial house fight for control of the court and the feeble emperor Hui. The civil war runs from 291 to 306 CE. The princes call on non-Chinese troops from the frontier to fight for them.

    The rest is history

    The war wrecked the Jin government and drew frontier peoples deep into Chinese politics. In 311 CE Xiongnu forces captured Luoyang, and in 316 CE they captured Chang'an. The Jin court fled south. Northern China broke into a series of short-lived states, which historians call the Sixteen Kingdoms.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryFang Xuanling et al. Jin shu (Book of Jin). Chinese dynastic history, 648 CE.
    2. BookGraff, David A. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900. London: Routledge, 2002.

  5. The Jin court moves south

    Event

    What happened

    After the fall of Chang'an in 316 CE, the Jin prince Sima Rui is proclaimed emperor in 317 CE at Jiankang, the later Nanjing. Northern aristocratic families flee south with their followers in a large migration. Their court is known as the Eastern Jin and lasts until 420 CE.

    The rest is history

    The south, once a frontier, became a centre of Chinese court culture and was settled and farmed more heavily. Four short dynasties followed the Eastern Jin there: Song, Qi, Liang and Chen. Rivalry between northern émigrés and local families shaped politics. The Southern dynasties lasted until the Sui conquered Chen in 589 CE.

    Sources

    1. BookLewis, Mark Edward. China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
    2. BookDien, Albert E. Six Dynasties Civilization. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.

  6. The Northern Wei unifies the north

    Event

    What happened

    The Tuoba Xianbei found the state of Northern Wei in 386 CE, and under Emperor Taiwu they conquer the last rival northern states by 439 CE. In 494 CE Emperor Xiaowen moves the capital to Luoyang and orders court dress and language to be Chinese. The dynasty also sponsors huge Buddhist cave temples at Yungang and Longmen.

    The rest is history

    Northern Wei showed that a steppe-origin dynasty could rule a Chinese agrarian state through a mix of both traditions. The state split in 534 to 535 CE into Eastern and Western Wei. Its institutions, including the equal-field land system, influenced the Sui and Tang. The Sui reunified the country in 589 CE.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryWei Shou. Wei shu (Book of Wei). Chinese dynastic history, 554 CE.
    2. BookHolcombe, Charles. The Genesis of East Asia, 221 B.C.-A.D. 907. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001.

  7. The Oath of the Peach Garden

    Folk tale

    The legend

    Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei meet and swear brotherhood in a peach garden. They vow to share life and death and to restore the Han. The three then fight side by side through the wars of the age.

    The rest is history

    The oath is not in the official history Sanguo zhi, which says only that the three men were close, like brothers. The scene comes from the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, attributed to Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century. Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were real, and Guan Yu was later worshipped as a god of war and loyalty. The earliest printed edition of the novel dates from 1522.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLuo Guanzhong. Sanguo yanyi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms). Chinese novel, 14th century, printed 1522.
    2. BookRoberts, Moss, trans. Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.

  8. Zhuge Liang and the empty fort

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    The Shu strategist Zhuge Liang is caught in a small city with almost no troops as the Wei army under Sima Yi approaches. He throws open the gates, sits on the wall and plays his zither calmly. Sima Yi suspects an ambush and withdraws.

    The rest is history

    Zhuge Liang was a real chancellor of Shu who led northern campaigns until he died in 234 CE. The Sanguo zhi praises his administration. The empty fort story is not in it. Pei Songzhi's commentary in 429 CE quotes a similar tale and rejects it, noting that Sima Yi was elsewhere at the time. The novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms made the scene famous.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryChen Shou. Sanguo zhi (Records of the Three Kingdoms), with commentary by Pei Songzhi. 3rd to 5th century CE.
    2. BookLuo Guanzhong. Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel. Translated by Moss Roberts. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.

  9. Borrowing arrows with straw boats

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    Zhuge Liang promises to produce 100,000 arrows in three days for the Wu commander Zhou Yu. On a foggy night he sails boats covered with straw figures towards the Wei camp. The Wei archers shoot at the boats, and he collects the arrows.

    The rest is history

    The episode is fiction in its famous form. A similar story appears in the Sanguo zhi commentary, but there it is Sun Quan, the ruler of Wu, who sails a boat to inspect Cao Cao's lines. The boat takes so many arrows on one side that it tilts, so he turns it round to even the load. The novel gave the trick to Zhuge Liang. The commentary was compiled by Pei Songzhi in 429 CE.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryChen Shou. Sanguo zhi (Records of the Three Kingdoms), Wu zhi, with commentary by Pei Songzhi, 429 CE.
    2. Bookde Crespigny, Rafe. Generals of the South. Canberra: Australian National University, 1990.

  10. Guan Yu becomes a god

    Myth

    The legend

    After his death, the spirit of Guan Yu is said to appear in visions and to protect temples, armies and merchants. He is shown with a red face and a long beard, holding a halberd. Temples to him are found across China and in Chinese communities abroad.

    The rest is history

    Guan Yu was a real general of Shu, killed by Wu in 220 CE. His cult grew slowly, and by the Song dynasty emperors were granting him titles. In 1594 the Ming Wanli emperor named him a divine protector, and under the Qing he ranked with Confucius in state rites. The novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms helped spread his image as the ideal of loyalty.

    Sources

    1. BookDuara, Prasenjit. "Superscribing Symbols: The Myth of Guandi, Chinese God of War." Journal of Asian Studies 47, no. 4 (1988): 778-795.
    2. PrimaryChen Shou. Sanguo zhi (Records of the Three Kingdoms), biography of Guan Yu. c. 280 CE.

  11. The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Seven scholars of the third century retreat to a bamboo grove to drink wine, play music and hold free conversations away from the dangerous politics of Wei and Jin. They are remembered as free spirits who rejected conventions.

    The rest is history

    The seven men, including Ji Kang and Ruan Ji, were real and lived in the mid-third century. Whether they really met as a group in a grove is doubtful, and some scholars think the grouping took shape later. Ji Kang was executed in 262 CE after offending the Sima family. The image of the sages became a favourite theme in Chinese art, and the earliest known example is a tomb brick relief near Nanjing from the fifth century.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLiu Yiqing. Shishuo xinyu (A New Account of Tales of the World). Chinese anecdotes, 5th century CE.
    2. BookHolzman, Donald. Poetry and Politics: The Life and Works of Juan Chi, A.D. 210-263. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.

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