A Guide to English Language Sources on the Three Kingdoms

[Sun Fin]

Introductory Overviews of Chinese History:

Keay, John, China A History, London: Harper Press, 2008.
In comparison to most other general historians Keay spends a reasonable amount of time looking at the earlier periods of Chinese history. The section that covers the Yellow Turban campaign through to the end of the Three Kingdoms era is about 22 pages long. However only 11 of these are focused on political history and if you are looking for anything more than a basic introduction to that then this isn’t the book for you. The other thing that Keay offers is an 11 page introduction to the religious history of the period.

Roberts, J. A. G., The Complete History of China, Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2007.
For a book entitled ‘The Complete History…’ Robert spends a disproportionate time (well over half the text) on the most recent 115 years. This author therefore gives only the most basic introduction to the Three Kingdom era (about five and a half pages) and at least part of this is an attempt to compare the fall of the Han Dynasty to that of Rome. I would recommend this book only to someone who has a passing interest in the 3K era and is instead primarily interested in modern history.

Ebrey, Patricia B., (ed.) The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.


Primary Sources:

Chen Shou, Records of the Three Kingdoms.
The ‘Records of the Three Kingdoms’ or ‘Sanguozhi’ (SGZ as its better known on SoSZ) is the earliest source still available to scholars interested in the 3K era. Chen Shou compiled it during the 3rd century. It is important to note the author’s bias towards the ruling dynasty of Jin and their predecessor Wei and to a lesser extent that of Shu the country of his early life. It is written in a biographical style with most major officials and officers having an entry. There is no official translation of the entirety of this work (some biographies have been put in books-see below) however many of our own scholars have worked hard over the years translating individual entries. In more recent times xuesanguo has committed to translating the source in its entirety and that project can be found here.

Chen Shou, Empresses and Consorts: Selections from Chen Shou’s Records of the Three States, trans. R Cutter & W. Crowell, Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press, 1999.
The translators collect the female biographies in ‘The ‘Records of the Three Kingdoms’ (see above) and put them in to this book. It also comes with an exploration of life of women at court. This is obviously well worth a read for anyone interested in women during the period. It also includes biographies for some male officers who are linked to women in the period (eg. Xu Kun, Liu Xuan). Some of the text is available here on google books.

Chen Shou, Doctors, Diviners and Magicians of Ancient China, trans. K. Dewoskin, Columbia: Columbia University Press, 1983.
In this book you can find translations of the SGZ biographies (see above) of seven significant doctors that existed during the Three Kingdom period. By far the most recognisable is Hua Tuo. It contains information on other people in the field from earlier and later periods as well as an exploration on the topic as a whole. This book is a must read for those interested in medicine during early China.

Sima Guang, Emperor Huan to Emperor Ling, trans. R. De Crespigny , Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press, 2018.
Sima Guang was commissioned to write a history of China and in 1084AD he finished. This book contains translations of the section about the time period 157-189AD. You can access it for free in pdf form. Unlike the SGZ it’s written in chronological order (opposed to biographical) which makes it very useful for knowing what happened year to year. Whilst many point to the advantage of Guang being unbiased unlike Chen Shou sadly he only had Chen Shou and Pei Songzhi’s biographies to work off of which means he indirectly inherits their bias’..

Sima Guang, To Establish Peace, trans. R. De Crespigny , Hawai’i: University of Hawai’i Press, 1997.
Sima Guang was commissioned to write a history of China and in 1084AD he finished. This book contains translations of the section about the time period 189-220AD. Whilst I’ve posted up a link to it on amazon for those wanting a hard copy alternatively you can access it for free in pdf form (Volume 1 and Volume 2). Unlike the SGZ it’s written in chronological order (opposed to biographical) which makes it very useful for knowing what happened year to year. Whilst many point to the advantage of Guang being unbiased unlike Chen Shou sadly he only had Chen Shou and Pei Songzhi’s biographies to work off of which means he indirectly inherits their bias’.

Sima Guang, Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, trans. A. Fang, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2013.
Sima Guang was commissioned to write a history of China and in 1084AD he finished. This book contains translations of the section about the time period 220-265AD. Whilst I’ve posted up a link to volume 1 on amazon for those wanting a hard copy alternatively you can access it for free on the forum. Unlike the SGZ it’s written in chronological order (opposed to biographical) which makes it very useful for knowing what happened year to year. Whilst many point to the advantage of Guang being unbiased unlike Chen Shou sadly he only had Chen Shou and Pei Songzhi’s biographies to work off of which means he indirectly inherits their bias’.


General Political History:

Twitchett, Denis (ed.) and Loewe, Michael (ed.), The Cambridge History of China: Volume 1, The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC-AD 220 v. 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
This is the first entry in the widely respected ‘The Cambridge History of China’. It covers a wide range of topics such as political history, foreign relations, government organisation and ancient Chinese law. Officially the period the book covers starts with the Qin dynasty and ends with the abdication of Emperor Xian in 220AD. However history doesn’t tie up that neatly and by necessity parts of the Three Kingdom period proper is also covered. The highlights of the book for a Three Kingdom historian are Beck’s articles on the Fall of the Han providing an alternative historians view on that topic and Ying-Shih’s about foreign relations providing a fascinating insight in to Dong Zhuo’s motivations. This is the best book to give an in-depth over view of the history of the Han dynasty. My one frustration with the book is the use of Wide-Giles names throughout.

De Crespigny , Rafe, Fire Over Luoyang, A History of the Later Han (23-220AD), Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2016.

De Crespigny , Rafe, A Biographical of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220AD), Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006.
In this book Dr De Crespigny attempts to provide basic information on every named figure of the era (from Lady's with one line to Cao Cao). It contains maps, a short history on the Later Han dynasty, explanation of administrative structure, some genealogical tables and a list of notable woman. Anything someone does after 220 is summed up as quickly as possible. It is a valuable resource for both expert (containing information on some lesser known figures) as well as the beginner. This thread contains some biographies from this book that some of our members have posted on site.

De Crespigny , Rafe, Portents of Protest in the Later Han: the memorials of Hsiang K’ai to Emperor Huan, Canberra: ANU Press, 1965.
This work analysis the chief reasons for the collapse of the imperial system of Han. Focusing on the social and political divisions which arose between the emperor and the scholar-officials who served him, it discusses the criticisms that were made of imperial policies under Emperor Huan and the philosophical background to the debate. It studies in some detail the means by which critics of the imperial government sought to urge their case by reference to supernatural or unusual phenomena as warnings to the throne. It is available for free on pdf.

De Crespigny , Rafe, Ladies of the Court of Emperor Huan of Han, Canberra: ANU Press, 2001.
Emperor Huan’s reign was originally dominated by his mother and his family and then by the eunuchs and women of his harem. This work is a study of the significant women of Emperor Huan’s court. It was originally published as an online source and the title link is to a free pdf version.

De Crespigny, Rafe, Northern Frontier: The policies and Strategies of the Later Han Empire, Canberra: ANU Press, 1984.
In this work Prof De Crespigny looks at the various tribes who lived North of China’s borders and how the central government tried to deal with him. This is available as a free pdf document.

Xiong, Victor Cunrui, The A to Z of Medieval Chinese History, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2010.
This book is similar in structure to De Crespigny’s Biographical Dictionary of the Three Kingdoms. Unfortunately when it comes to information about the Three Kingdoms it tends to be vague and non-descriptive. While it is not a stellar guide to the Three Kingdoms period individually, it is a good guide overall for the period from approximately 189AD to the end of the 10th century. Notably the book also contains a highly useful chronology section to help readers understand China’s complicated political history during the period of division.

Lewis, Mark E., The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han , Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010.

Lewis, Mark E., China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Empires, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009.
In this book Lewis looks at how China changed between the Han and Tang Empires. His detailed analysis covers the importance of southern migration, social changes amongst the gentry, development in troop welfare (with some useful pictures) as well as in city structure. Lewis doesn’t focus exclusively on the Three Kingdom era and his work on the period is spread throughout the book so it takes time to locate everything relevant. I do think this is a work worth owning for the serious scholar.

Michaud, Paul, The Rebellion of the Yellow Turbans, PHD Thesis, The University of Chicago, 1957.
This thesis focuses on the Yellow Turban rebellion, the traditional starting point of the Three Kingdom era. The author focuses on three main topics: (1) the cause of the rebellion, (2) what the Yellow Turban’s believed and (3) the extent of the rebellion. Some of what is written is now considered out of date by more recent scholars but it is a worthwhile introduction to the rebellion. Like all older sources the writer has used Wade-Giles naming system.


Wei Political History:

De Crespigny , Rafe, Imperial Warlord: A Biography of Cao Cao 154-220AD, Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2010.

De Crespigny , Rafe, Man from the Margin: Cao Cao and the Three Kingdoms, Australia: Australian National University, 1990.
This is alternatively available for free on pdf.

Leban, Carl, Ts’ao Ts’ao and the Rise of Wei: the Early Years, PHD Thesis, Columbia University, 1971.
In this outstanding thesis Carl Leban covers Cao Cao’s early life, up until the battle of Guandu. It opens with a source analysis and an investigation into Cao Cao’s family background before moving to document the events of the Yellow Turbans onwards. Whilst Leban focuses on Cao Cao he puts his life in to the wider context of Yuan Shao and the other warlords. A cheaper alternative to De Crespigny ’s more recent book on Cao Cao and has largely stood the test of time. The one area that modern scholarship has overtaken the thesis is in relation to Cao Cao’s family origins. I highly recommend this thesis. It is worth noting that as the title suggests Wade-Giles is used throughout the book.

Goodman, Howard L., Ts'ao P'i Transcendent: Political Culture and Dynasty-Founding in China at the End of the Han: The Political Culture of Dynasty-founding in China at the End of the Han, Oxford: Routledge, 1998.
In this book Goodman details how Cao Pi attempted to legitimise his regime after the last Han Emperor abdicated. He adopts a critical stance towards Cao Pi and explains some of his successes as well as failures in trying to legitimise the Wei dynasty. He also spends some time talking about the Sima family. Goodman also attempts to provide information about several of Cao Pi’s supporters including a rather lengthy chapter on Zhang Lu. Just a warning: this text is older and so uses the Wade-Giles (Ts’ao P’i) names system rather than the newer system that many of you will be more use to (Cao Pi).


Shu Political History

Killigrew, John, ‘Zhuge Liang and the Northern Campaign of 228-234’, Early Medieval China, vol.1999, no. 1, 1999, pp. 55-91.
In Killigrew’s essay on Zhuge Liang, drawing mainly on ‘Records of the Three Kingdoms’ offers insight in to the success and failures of Liang’s Northern Campaigns. Liang is a heavily romanticised character and so Killigrew’s historical investigation is very useful, especially to the beginner. The book focuses on the Longzhong dui, a description of each campaign and an evaluation of Zhuge Liang himself. This is a great book for someone looking for a fair treatment of the historical Zhuge Liang.

Farmer, J. Michael, Talent of Shu: Qiao Zhou and the Intellectual World of Early Medieval Sichuan, New York: State University of New York Press, 2008.
Farmer’s aim in writing this book seems to have been trying to disprove negative assessments of scholarly activity in South-western China before and during the Three Kingdoms era. He traces a lineage of scholars who were active in the region, discusses their intellectual accomplishments and then spends the rest of the book discussing Qiao Zhou. This analysis is multifaceted because it delves in to both his scholarly accomplishments and being an official in Shu’s government. Farmer reveals a lot about the inner workings of the court. This is one of the best books in English to research Shu-Han’s later years.

Herman, John, ‘The Kingdoms of Nanzhong China’s Southwest Border Region Prior to the Eight Century’, T’oung Pao, vol.95, no. 4, 2009, pp. 241-286.
Whilst this article only spends a few pages looking at the Three Kingdom period the information it does contain is worth reading. In particular it focuses on the Cong clan who appear in both Shu-Han and Jin history. It also spends some time looking at Yong Kai and gives some historical information on the much romanticised (almost beyond recognition) Southern Campaigns of Zhuge Liang.


Wu Political History:

De Crespigny , Rafe, Generals of the South: the Foundation and Early History of the Three Kingdoms State of Wu, Australia: Australian National University, 1990.
For most members of the Scholars this is our go to source. It’s available for free on his university page as the book is now out of print. De Crespigny follows the fortunes of the Sun Clan from Sun Jian’s first recorded actions to the eventual fall of the kingdom. Chapter 1 looks at the southern China during the Later Han and the author provides a fascinating insight in to the political history of the period in chapter 2 with Sun Jian’s rise through the bureaucracy. A must read for anyone who is interested in the period, De Crespigny ’s writings is accessible to all levels of audience.

De Crespigny , Rafe, The Development of the Chinese Empire in the South: A discussion of the origins of the state of Wu of the Three Kingdoms, , PHD Thesis, ANU, 1966.
De Crespigny’s doctoral thesis! It looks at the impact that the kingdom of Wu had on Southern China. Such as enforcing a great expansion of Chinese culture and control among the barbarian peoples and marking the first of the southern dynasties which maintained their independence from the north during four centuries after the end of Han.


Jin Political History

Goodman, Howard L., Xun Xu and the Politics of Precision in Third-Century AD China, Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2010.
A deep-reaching, highly-technical biographical treatment of Xun Xu. Sheds a great deal of light not only on the life of one highly-technical, opinionated and obstinately perfectionist Confucian man-of-letters, but also on the entire aesthetic-political-historiographical landscape of the turbulent Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei specifically) and early Jin periods of early-mediaeval China. Stresses both the factional, court-intrigue driven divisions within the Wei and Jin courts; and the purely-intellectual ones that arose from multiple sources - the ferment of the xuanxue and qingtan circles of late Wei, the need to legitimate a new dynasty in Jin, the discovery of the Jizhong texts.


Social History

Loewe, Michael, Bing: From Farmer’s Son to Magistrate in Han China, Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 2011.

Loewe, Michael, Everyday Life in Early Imperial China, Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 2005.

Swartz, Wendy, (ed.) and Company, Robert Ford (ed.) and Yang Lu (ed.) and Choo, Jessey (ed.), , Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook, Columbia: Columbia University Press, 2014.

Ebrey, Patricia B., (ed.) Chinese Civilisation: A Sourcebook, New York: The Free Press, 1993.

Lopez Jr, Donald S., Religions of China in Practise, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1996.


Military History:

Peers, C. J., Imperial Chinese Armies (1): 200 BC-589AD, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2008.

Hong, Yang, Weapons in Ancient China, Marrickville: Science Press, 1992.

Di Cosmo, Nicola (ed.), Military Culture in Imperial China, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2011.

Graff, David A., Medieval Chinese Warfare 300-900AD, Oxford: Routledge, 2001.

Sawyer, Ralph D. (ed.), The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, Colorado: Westview Press, 2007.

Sawyer, Ralph D. (ed.), The Tao of Deception: Unorthodox Warfare in Historic and Modern China, , Colorado: Westview Press, 2007.


Cultural History:

Besio, Kimberly (ed.) and Tung, Constantine (ed.), Three Kingdoms and Chinese Culture, New York: State University of New York Press, 2008.
This book is a collection of essays, by various prominent authors, regarding the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and its implications about Chinese culture then and now. Some of the topics covered include how the novel demonstrates Confucian teachings, why the Peach Tree pact was made and how it later leads to difficult decisions for those involved, why Zhuge Liang’s story is so greatly exaggerated and fictionalized in the novel and elsewhere, and more. Theres also a few essays regarding art based on the book from the past and present, including a comparison to the Three Kingdoms television show. Overall, this book acts as a great companion piece to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, though it may not tread any new ground for those who are particularly well-studied in the novel and/or Confucian culture.

De Crespigny , Rafe, Poems and rhapsodies: some poems and rhapsodies of the later Han and Three Kingdoms, translated, Canberra: ANU Press, 2004.
This is a small collection of poems written during the Later Han and Three Kingdom periods. It was originally published as an online source and the title link is to a free pdf version.

Smith, Curtis Davis, Classical Chinese Writers of the Pre-Tang Period, Michigan: Cengage Gale, 2010.
Smith’s book contains several poems written by Cao Cao, Pi and Zhi. It also offers explanations of when and why the poems were written and contains some bibliographical information about the Cao family. It also has some writings by one of Lu Xun’s descendants who served Western Jin. All three Cao’s are noted poets and well respected in the history of Chinese literature. This is the go to place for finding their poem’s translated in to English.

[Sun Fin]

This is a bit of a project I've decided to work on, I'm going to compile all of the 3K sources I can find, provide a link to all of them (either to buy a hard copy, read online or both) and write a few lines review for each one.

So far I've just listed all the sources I'm aware of and put in a few links to the first ones on the list. I intend to spend quite a lot of time formatting it in the next month or so and adding the reviews.

If you know any sources that I've missed and/or happy to write a review for some of the sources let me know here and I'll edit them in to the first post.

I hope you find it useful!

[Jordan]

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The A to Z of Medieval China by Victor Cunrui Xiong: General Political History extending into the period after the Three Kingdoms as well.


http://www.amazon.com/Medieval-China-Gu ... eval+china

The A to Z of Medieval China by Victor Cunrui Xiong is similar in structure to Dr. Rafe de Crespigny's Biographical Dictionary of the Three Kingdoms. Unfortunately, when it comes to information about the Three Kingdoms it tends to be vague and non-descriptive. While it is not a stellar guide to the Three Kingdoms period individually, it is a good guide overall for the period from approximately AD 189 (when the Late-Han started declining) to the end of the 10th century, which is roughly when the Song dynasty was founded. Notably, the book also contains a highly useful chronology section to help readers understand China's complicated political history from the end of the Han dynasty to the beginning of the Song.

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Ts'ao P'i Transcendent: Political Culture and Dynasty-Founding in China at the End of the Han by Howard L. Goodman: Wei Political History

http://www.amazon.com/Tsao-Pi-Transcend ... anscendent

Ts'ao Pi' Transcendent: Political Culture and Dynasty-Founding in China at the End of the Han details how Cao Pi attempted to legitimize his regime after the last Han Emperor abdicated. Howard Goodman adopts a critical stance toward Cao Pi and offers some explanations for his successes as well as failures in trying to legitimize the Wei dynasty. He spends some time talking about the Sima family, for example. Goodman notably attempts to provide information about several of Cao Pi's supporters, including a rather lengthy chapter on Zhang Lu.

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Talent of Shu,: Qiao Zhou and the Intellectual World of Early Medieval Sichuan by J. Michael Farmer: Shu-Han Political HIstory

http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Shu-Intell ... =qiao+zhou

J. Michael Farmer's stated goal in writing [/i]Talent of Shu: Qiao Zhou and the Intellectual World of Early Medieval Sichuan[/i] seems to have been to try to disprove negative assessments of scholarly activity in Southwestern China before and during the Three Kingdoms era. He traces a lineage of scholars who were active in the region, discusses their intellectual accomplishments and then spends most of the rest of the book discussing Qiao Zhou individually. Farmer's discussion of Qiao Zhou is multifaceted because it delves on both Qiao Zhou's scholarly accomplishments and his role as an official within the Shu-Han court. When writing about the latter, Farmer reveals a great deal about the inner-workings of the Shu-Han court and the factionalism inherent in its later politics. This is probably one of the best books in English to learn more about Shu-Han's later years and, of course, to learn about Qiao Zhou's role in history in particular.

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Zhuge Liang and the Northern Campaigns by John Killigrew: Military History or Shu-Han Political History. It can fit in either category because the purpose of this article is an assessment of the military worth of Zhuge Liang's campaigns.

http://clasnews.clas.ufl.edu/webtemps/m ... ligrew.pdf

Killigrew's essay on Zhuge Liang, drawing mainly on the Sanguozhi but also on other sources, offers insight into the successes and failures behind Zhuge Liang's Northern Campaigns. As Zhuge Liang is a heavily romanticized figure, Killigrew's realistic historical descriptions and interpretations are likely to be of huge help to newcomers to the historical aspects of the Three Kingdoms period still trying to separate fact from fiction. Killigrew offers lengthy explanations about Zhuge Liang's Longzhong dui, a grand strategy that formed the basis of Liu Bei's and Zhuge Liang's military/political policies. He also provides descriptions of each one of Zhuge Liang's Northern Campaigns and why they did not succeed. At the end, he offers an overall evaluation of Zhuge Liang which is fair and impartial, ultimately arguing that although Zhuge Liang clearly did not succeed in his articulated objective of seizing Chang'an, he might have succeeded in some other ways. Killigrew also seems to argue that while Zhuge Liang's strategies were overly rigid in some ways, he was a clever tactician and master of "ambuscades."

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Classical Chinese Writers of the Pre-Tang Period: Cultural History (Social History?). If I recall right, this contained poems from Cao Cao, Cao Pi, Cao Zhi and one of Lu Xun's descendents who served under Western Jin.

http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Pre-Tan ... ang+Period

Classical Chinese Writers of the Pre-Tang Period contains several poems written by Cao Cao, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi. It also offers explanations of when and why the poems were written and contains some biographical information about the Cao family. Finally, it contains some writings of one of Lu Xun's descendants who served under Western Jin, whose name escapes me at the moment. If you want to read English translations of the poems by Cao Cao, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, you can find them here. All three are noted poets and well-respected in the history of Chinese literature. Cao Pi also is known for writing a commentary on literature as a whole.

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Three Kingdoms and Chinese Culture: Cultural History (Social History?). This is actually about the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms but it talks a bit about the historiography behind the novel. For the most part, however, it discusses the novel's role in Chinese culture and how that was developed through later forms of media such as theater.

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Kingdoms-Ch ... se+culture

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“Climate Change And Migrations of People During the Jin Dynasty.” Early Medieval China vol. 13-14 by Connie Chin: Political History of Jin

A deconstruction of the classical narrative of Jin history which blames the War of the Six Princes for the fall of Western Jin. Chin's article actually discusses how climate change and desertification of the northern steppe created an impulse for migration among non-Chinese people on the frontier that was actually the major cause for the collapse of the Western Jin dynasty.

This one is a very "Annales School" way of looking at the Western Jin due to its environmental determinism. Well worth a read.

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"Cai Yan and the Poems Attributed to Her" in Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR) Vol. 5, No. 1/2 (Jul., 1983) by Hans Frankel: Cultural/Social History?

An attempt to deconstruct myths behind Cai Yan, arguing that her "poems" were actually later works falsely attributed to her.

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“The Kingdoms of Nanzhong China’s Southwest Border Region Prior to the Eighth Century.” in T’oung Pao 95.4 (2009) by John Herman: Political History

This one only spends a few pages talking about 3k and Jin personages. It talks about the region of Nanzhong as a whole in early Chinese history. In particular it deals with the Cuan family of Nanzhong, which played some role in the histories of Shu-Han and Jin. It also discusses Zhuge Liang's Southern campaign and the rebels such as Yong Kai who were his opposition.

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Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Biography of Zhong Hui

http://www.iep.utm.edu/zhonghui/

A loose biography of Zhong Hui with a focus on his philosophical contributions to Chinese history. The Zhong family which served Wei were notable scholars and had a particular interest in the writings of Laozi. Zhong Hui, despite his name being blackened by his eventual rebellion against the Sima family, was well respected as a politician, tactician and philosopher.


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https://www.youtube.com/user/CControl/videos

This channel contains several videos made by CCTV about the Seven Sages of the bamboo Grove. Unfortunately, the user doesn't have a playlist exclusively for them so I linked to his channel.

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the video because I don't know much about the topic, but I found it interesting while I was browsing youtube one day.

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http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neo-daoism/

Article on Xuanxue (literally "mysterious learning" or "black learning" but it was a revival movement of Daoism that reached its zenith period during Cao Shuang's regime in Wei and the early years of Jin)

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Anything by Dr. Rafe de Crespigny are great. There are probably a few more you can add to your list. Some are better than others. Northern Frontier, Generals of the South, his translations of the Zizhi Tongjian chapters ("To Establish Peace") are better than his biography of Cao Cao. His biography of Cao Cao isn't bad but it's a lot of information you can find elsewhere. I also like Leban's dissertation better, having read both (Leban's cuts off at a certain date, though, and isn't as complete a biography as de Crespigny's).

Do any of you guys have books that discuss Ma Jun, the Seven sages of the bamboo grove or other philosophers, painters or cultural figures? I thought there were a few floating around.

[Sun Fin]

Thank you for all your recommendations Jordan, there are some great things in there, the ‘A-Z guide’ stood out to me in particular. I also added two other sources I’ve found. I especially want to draw attention to Leowe’s book entitled ‘Bing’. It is written in a novel format but is written with the intention of showing Chinese social history as clearly as possible. I’ve ordered it and am very excited about reading it as soon as it arrives!

I intend to add in the rest of your cultural history ones at a later date. I just want to spend some time on writing some more reviews for the sources I do have (the same goes for all of De Crispigny’s work that I haven’t got in yet).

I’ve decided to omit the Jin article but I have put in the link to the ‘Early Medieval China’ page so people can find Jin sources easily if they so wish!

When you can find the time I’d appreciate it if you could write reviews for all the sources you recommended as well as Graff’s book on military history (as I only know of its existence based on you referencing it in other threads! ) . No pressure, obviously take as long as you need, much as I am!

If anyone else has any sources that we've missed I’d love you to recommend them!

[Jordan]

If you have an interest in the period that comes after the Jin dynasty, I would recommend you check out Graff's book, Sun Fin. It only very briefly discusses the Three Kingdoms era (discussing how swords and spears changed and how horse armor began to develop during the Wei dynasty) but in the subsequent period it touches on the political strategies, tactics, weapons, armor, formations and other military aspects of the post-3k dynasties. It seems right up your alley aside from the period it focuses on.

I've written descriptions of most of the sources I've mentioned. Some are kind of vague because a few of the books I have not read in a long time. I am having a great deal of trouble locating my copy of Howard Goodman's book about Cao Pi. Whenever I find it, I can likely add more information. There's one book I did not mention because it only contains one essay of interest, but Culture and Power in the Reconstitution of the Chinese Realm, 200-600 contains several essays by historians interested in the period of disunion from the end of the Han to the beginning of the Tang.

The essay of interest in this book is written by Robert Joe Cutter. If I'm not mistaken, Cutter also worked on writing Empresses and Consorts. In an essay in this book entitled To the Manner Born?: Nature and Nurture in Early Medieval Chinese Literary Thought, Cutter discusses Cao Pi's Dian lun lun wen as a literature commentary and compares it to another essay on literature written at a later time period. It also peripherally discusses the literary vitality of the Jian'an period of Chinese history. In another essay, which does not discuss Cao Pi nearly as extensively, David Knechtges credits Cao Pi as writing one of the earliest known anthologies of literature. Cao Pi had sought to preserve the writings of several poets who died in an epidemic in the year AD 217. This event is discussed in more detail in Cutter's essay.

[Sun Fin]

Thanks mate, they look great! If you aren't happy with them, or feel you can improve it if you re-read the source then you can always come back to me with an updated one .

I'm going to be going fairly slowly now anyway as I'm re-reading most of my sources to be as fair to them as possible. I'm currently half way through Lewis' book. I'm also going to add the prequel to the list as it talks about the Later Han in quite some detail.

Graff's book is on my wish list, I will buy it at some point. When I have a source of income I'm going to be buying quite a lot of these books I don't own yet!

I'll add in the other book at some point too as well .

[mendedties]

Oh gawd, I think I love you guys.

This is amazing.

[Sun Fin]

Thanks mendedties

Jordan I've added in your reviews, I hope you don't mind I edited them slightly?

Also note I've put in Michaud's dissertation and Lewis' book on Qin/Han.

[Jordan]

The edits are an improvement. My initial summaries were a bit sloppy.

I would suggest adding the source about Nanzhong by Herman. It is really good. It uses the Sanguozhi and Huayang Guozhi as sources to describe Zhuge Liang's Southern Campaign, the aftermath and how the Cuan family rose to power in the region during the Three Kingdoms and Jin periods.

Of course it is a general political history of Nanzhong and begins at a much earlier date. It describes the history of Nanzhong before and during the Warring States period and its history in the aftermath of the Three Kingdoms as well. While it is a general political history, I believe it has sufficient information about Nanzhong during the Three Kingdoms period to be of interest in this thread.

I have noticed only one error in Herman's writings. In one citation which he attributes to another writer named Von Glahn, Herman notes, "According to von Glahn, legend has it that “Zhuge Liang and Ma Yuan [one of the
generals assisting him] consecrated their victories over the indigenous peoples of southern
China by erecting bronze pillars to demarcate the bounds of Han [Chinese] sovereignty;
correspondingly, they placed bronze pillars, oxen, or drums in or above the rivers of the
conquered domains to quell the subaqueous, reptilian deities that ruled the torrents and
strategic places of passage.”

It is possible that von Glahn had conflated the famous Han general Ma Yuan with one of Zhuge Liang's subordinates and that this note refers to Ma Yuan and Zhuge Liang separately as having done this. It is also possible that Ma Yuan is a transcription error made by either Herman or von Glahn and that the note refers to another "Ma" who served Shu-Han such as Ma Zhong (likely), Ma Dai or Ma Su.

[Sun Fin]

Cool, I'll put it to the top of my edit in list and put it on my 'need to read list'. The biggest issue with this thread is that my wishlist keeps getting longer and more expensive!