Introduce yourself and tell us a bit about you.

[qqdonut]

Welcome back to the forum qqdonut! I think the SoSZ is quieter at the moment but the quality of information being posted, like Taishi Ci's book of Jin thread, is as high as ever! I hope you stick around and enjoy the ride!

Thanks! Yeah definitely enjoy reading the relatively straightforward ZZTJ rendering of the post-Sima Yan era. The sheer number of princes makes it so confusing.

[Dong Zhou]

Welcome back qqdonut

I have noticed a tendency towards scepticism with latest DW, some over open world, others really angry over cloned movesets and other issue.

The tumblr sources do seem to be something more and more people nowadays. I did read through the ZZTJ when younger but doubt I could do that nowadays, having more sources around has been one of the joys of recent years even though others like 3kingdoms.net and empiredivided have faded. Particularly we have more on later eras of three kingdoms

[Jia Nanfeng]

I've posted here a few times, and have lurked for many, many hours, so I figured I'd finally introduce myself!

I joined after coming across Taishi Ci 2.0's "ZZTJ Translations: Western Jin (Book 79-83-??)" thread while scouring Google. I followed the thread for a while then decided that I've enjoyed the project too much to not thank him for his work, so I signed up!

My introduction to the Three Kingdoms era was through Dynasty Warriors 3, nearly sixteen years ago. (I feel old.) Since then I have owned nearly every DW game. I read the Romance novels after a few years, and as time went on I began studying the true history behind the game/book characters.

I particularly enjoy studying the Western Jin dynasty (as might be apparent from my username), as well as Dong Zhuo's rise and fall, and Sun Hao's. I guess I find the tyranny side of 3K history to be pretty interesting! Outside of tyrants, I also like to read about Jiang Wei and Sima Yi.

I think this place is great, so I hope to stick around!

[Taishi Ci 2.0]

Welcome again to the forum and thank you for appreciating my work.

Don't feel too bad about DW3 being old; that was also my introduction to the history of the era. Sometimes, you just have to humble the rebels.

If you're a Jiang Wei fan, I did translate a mod for an old KOEI strategy game that focuses on his life story, mostly historical, some fictional embellishments, quite a bit of silliness: Legend of Jiang Wei.

[Dong Zhou]

Welcome to the forum Jia Nanfeng

Dynasty Warriors 2 was my first I think, most of us came through the olde Dw games

I also find the rise and fall of Dong intresting, Sun Hao interests me but the lack of knowledge about that era is frustrating and Jiang Wei is an intresting figure.

[Sun Fin]

Welcome to the board, Jia Nanfeng! I'm glad you're enjoying your time here! The Jin dynasty doesn't appeal to me quite so much but I agree that what Taishi Ci is undertaking is an awesome project! Like Dong I got in to the game via DW2 which is still my favourite - I doubt this community would exist without the popularity of DW2-5!

I hope you'll stick around for a long time

[Qin Feng]

I don't know if it's too late to join the party, but I decided to join this forum because... well, I kind of needed too!
I'm a 19 year old student from Spain. I'm currently studying East Asian Studies in university, primarily to master the Chinese language and hopefully live in China in all due time. At the end of my college degree I have to deliver some kind of research project. It can be about anything, as long as it is related to East Asia. Since I really like history, I decided to make it on the power struggle at the end of the Han dynasty. I don't know a lot about this time, and I'd like to know everything about it to deliver a good project (got a couple years for that, so it's fine).

I hope I can find good help here and get some good sources to get a good idea of what I'm doing. If I can't, the Republican period leading to the proclamation of the PRC is also really fascinating, and if I can't find good material on the fall of the Han, then I'll have to do it on this. Not that I'd complain

Pleased to meet you all, hope this site is not completely dead

[Sun Fin]

Welcome to 'The Scholars', Qin Feng. It's very nice to met you and I hope you enjoy your time with us! Whilst the forum isn't as active as it once was there certainly is still some life. I would say that we have a lot of very knowledgeable members who regularly log in and will respond to questions when they're asked, so please feel free to do so!

You've chosen a fascinating project topic! In terms of sources I think we can be of help! Here is a list of many English sources on this period that I've compiled. Check past the first page as others have recommended books that I've been too lazy to add to the first post!

In particular you might find this essay called The Fall of the Han by B J Mansvelt Beck helpful. Another great place to start is the page of Prof Rafe De Crispigny who is the most prominent English speaking historian on the period and much of his work is available online, for free!

Please feel free to ask anything and everything and I look forward to opportunities to discuss the period with you!

[Qin Feng]

Oh man, many thanks, will start checking it out right away. My teacher recommended Cambridge History of China but the book is really expensive. In fact I found the chapter that talked about the end of the Han here, so that's something at least

I also started reading Romance of the three kingdoms. I guess it's good to have a general view of what is going on, even though some things were made up if I remember well.
Anyway, thanks once more, will check those out.

[Sun Fin]

My pleasure

The essay I linked is the chapter from the pre-mentioned Cambridge History. It really is a great book, I got a copy for Christmas and am loving it.

The Romance is a good place to start. It will give you a vague overview and help you understand the cultural bias’ that dominate the topic. However take most of what you read with a pinch of salt! We’re all very happy to show you where the fiction deviates from history!