Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The fourteenth-century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo yanyi), attributed to Luo Guanzhong, has long been acclaimed as one of the four great classical Chinese novels, and remains extremely popular to this day.1⁴ This book vividly illustrates how ideological and moralistic interpretations of violence worked their way into the popular consciousness during the imper­ial era.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms focuses on the decline and fall of the Eastern Han dynasty and the immediate aftermath, a chaotic period span­ning the years 169 to 280. After the dynasty's collapse, China split into three states ruled by warlords who vied to reunify the empire. While based on real events, the author mixes in legends and detailed fictional character studies to produce a nuanced meditation on profound topics of perennial interest, such as the nature of human character and the relations between order and chaos.

Three Kingdoms dramatises the workings of the mandate of heaven by describing how evil officials take control of the government at the end of the Han dynasty, misleading naive emperors and persecuting men of virtue. A long series of immoral acts finally provoke heaven into removing its mandate, resulting in the dynasty's inevitable breakdown. With the govern­ment terminally weakened by corruption and maladministration, rebellions break out. Enfeebled emperors empower several talented generals in the hope that they can defeat the rebels and restore order. Instead, they make themselves independent warlords. Rather than strengthening the dynasty, these generals destroy it as they struggle for power among themselves. The novel culminates in the pivotal Battle of Red Cliffs in 208, where the warlord Cao Cao, de facto ruler of north China, fights the combined armies of generals in control of the south.

This epic portrays war, chaos and dynastic ruin not as random occurrences but as comprehensible events that occur due to cause and effect. Generations of readers have regarded Cao Cao's inability to defeat his opponents and restore national unity as one of the most poignant moments in China's long history. These inconclusive wars initiated a long era of national weakness, internecine conflict and eventual foreign occupation of the north. By using the mandate of heaven ideology to interpret these complex and chaotic events, the author makes them seem not only comprehensible but worthy of sustained reflection.

This narrative also imposes a clear moralistic template upon its violent subject matter, using the characters to depict classical Confucian ethics and depicting these virtues as practicable for ordinary people. In particular, the author emphasises how the application of ethical norms can counter nihilistic chaos. Ever since antiquity, situational ethics has held an important place in Chinese moral discourse. Confucius recognised the need to adjust one's behaviour pragmatically to fit specific circumstances, so he gave very differ­ent advice to each of his disciples. A rich literature of history, biography and fiction arose to explore how basic Confucian principles can be applied to particular situations. The complex interactions described in Romance of the Three Kingdoms fit into this larger moral project. This novel demonstrates how Confucian virtues might sometimes be useful in times ofhardship, while under other conditions they could easily fail.

The beginning of the novel, which describes the decline and fall of the Eastern Han dynasty, dramatises the importance of the mandate of heaven. A series of weak-willed rulers and evil officials tyrannise the realm, inviting their own destruction. By situating the story within a larger moral and cosmological context, the author makes the era's violence seem comprehen­sible.

Most importantly, several characters in the novel remain fiercely com­mitted to the key virtue of loyalty (zhong). Their allegiance takes several forms. Some remain faithful to the dynasty in spite of its hopeless corruption. Others stay steadfastly loyal to a superior, sometimes choosing fidelity over personal gain. The novel also focuses on devoted relationships among pairs or groups of men who see their relationship as akin to brotherhood. This survey of the various manifestations of loyalty explicated a key Confucian virtue for the reader's benefit. In this manner, the author demonstrates how classical virtues might foster tight social bonds to overcome violence, reunite China and bring about the rebirth of a stable political system.

The fundamental Confucian virtue of righteousness (yi) also plays an important role in the interactions between the novel's characters. Because the characters feel that they can depend on a counterpart who consistently acts according to righteousness, this virtue becomes a way to bind people together, forging intense links between powerful men. Just as the immoral behaviour of the powerful has shattered society and the state, righteousness presents a way to decrease violence and restore constancy to social relation­ships. Even as Romance of the Three Kingdoms details a long series of battles that use violence to try to quell violence, the author constantly emphasises ethics as an equally useful tool for countering disorder. Restoring normalcy to both the political and the social realms requires more than just the exercise of force. Leaders must also apply virtue in an enlightened manner to decrease violence and make way for a new age of beneficent calm to emerge.