Sanguo Zhi and Sanguo Yanyi

Sanguo Zhi

Undoubtedly the most important text available to scholars of the Three Kingdoms is the 'Sanguo Zhi' History of the Three Kingdoms (known sometimes as Record of the Three Kingdoms) written by Chen Shou of Jin and later annotated by Pei Songzhi of Song. Together with the 'Shiji' Book of History, 'Han Shu' Book of Han and 'Houhan Shu' Book of the Later Han, it is part of the 'Four Histories', as well as the canon of histories known as the 'Twenty-four Histories'. The work contains sixty five volumes in all, broken into three books, one on each kingdom. The Book of Wei contains thirty volumes, the Book of Shu contains fifteen volumes and the Book of Wu contains twenty volumes. Each volume is organised in the form of one of more biographies. The amount of space a biography takes up is dictated by the importance of the figure. For example, Sun Quan's life occupied one volume whilst the profiles of Zhou Yu, Lu Su and Lü Meng were pushed into another.

Sanguo Yanyi (Romance of Three Kingdoms)

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was a Chinese narrative based on the Three Kingdoms period and is generally regarded as a masterpiece of pre-modern literature. It was written in the late Ming dynasty and based on Chen Shou's Sanguo Zhi and tales transcribed by wandering storytellers popular since the Tang Dynasty. The reputed author of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was a man named Luo Guanzhong (or Luo Ben).

In comparison of the Sanguo Zhi and Romance, the latter presents a far more dramatic and interesting account whilst the former is little more than a collection of historical facts. As a result, far more people have gained their knowledge of the period from the novel than the official history. The Romance is about 70% fact and 30% fiction. Sanguo Zhi centers around Wei and readers think that Wei is the "good" kingdom, where as in the Romance, Shu is the "good" kingdom. Because of these different opinions, important figures such as Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang can be viewed in different lights depending on the book the reader reads.

The Romance, with its many editions and versions, could be put to other uses and read for alternative purposes. Military men read it to enhance their knowledge of battle strategy.