Romance of the Three Kingdoms

[reitia]

Hello all,

 

I am interested in reading the classical work called "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", considered to be one of China's four supreme works of fiction. Anyone know of a low-priced translation in English, or a downloadable online version?

 

Is this book indeed best classified as a historical novel, or should we rather call it "novellized history"?

[Shelley]

Have a look at this http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/44726-romance-of-the-three-kingdoms-podcast/

 

There are other topics about this on the forum, type Romance of the Three Kingdoms in to the search box and see what else there is.

[reitia]

Thanks, Shelley. Have you read this famous book? So far, I've only found it in synthesis.

 

What do you think about the ancient Chinese classics? I can't get enough of them, they are so fascinating and so brilliant in characterization. I just gobble up everything I can find in translation!

[Shelley]

As you can see from this topic http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/45394-group-read-san-guo-yan-yi/page-2

 

I tried reading it, but found it quite boring in the end and so have given up reading it. I am however going to reread Dream of the Red Mansions over the next few months/years taking it slowly and enjoying it.

 

Hope you enjoy it.

[abcdefg]

A few resources for those who want to delve more deeply into the novel and the historical era on which it is based (and yes, they contain spoilers):

• threekingdoms.com: Read an English translation of the novel online for free. Scroll past the Oprah picture at the top to see the table of contents. The site includes a lot of crowd-sourced annotations, some of which can be helpful.
• purepen.com/sgyy/: Read the original Chinese novel online for free.
• The China History Podcast: This excellent podcast series is a must-listen if you’re into podcasts and Chinese history and culture. There are episodes on the Three Kingdoms era, the Han dynasty that directly preceded it, and the Jin dynasty that followed.
• BBC podcast about the novel

 

http://www.3kingdomspodcast.com/2014/04/09/episode-0/

 

[abcdefg]

Is this book indeed best classified as a historical novel, or should we rather call it "novellized history"?

 

70% history and 30% fiction, according to John Zhu.

 

http://www.3kingdomspodcast.com/2014/04/11/episode-1-bromance-three-warriors/

[reitia]

Hello Shelley and abcdefg,

 

Sorry for my delay in replying to you...I haven't been very well. I'm now exploring a cure for poor digestion with Chinese chrysanthemum herbal tea...Perhaps you know it.

 

Early Chinese prose fascinates me. I would like to read some classical historical/semi-historical novels which do not deal primarily with war. As a pacifist, I enjoy sentimental fiction with a happy ending and a strong moral message. Adventure stories with a love theme would be great. Here in Italy, it's distressingly difficult to find early Chinese prose literature in translation. Could you please recommend some Chinese novels (earlier than the Ming Dynasty) which I might enjoy?

 

See you soon on the Chinese Food and Drink forum!

 

Best wishes!

[Geiko]

Hi reitia! I can't find a book that meets all your requirements, a novel written before the Ming dynasty, that isn't focused on war, and that has been translated into English, it's a very narrow range! Jin Ping Mei came to mind, but it was written during the late Ming dynasty. I also found another novel in wikipedia, Fengshen Yanyi, but it's also from the Ming dynasty. I'm afraid I'm not being of much help...