The End of the Reign of Central Stability

Chapters 1 and 2

Romance contains a lot of plot in each chapter. There is just too much for me to summarize it in each blog post. In just the first chapter, we learn about how the Empire is mismanaged, meet the three hero “brothers,” see them take their oath, watch them fight rebels, meet the primary antagonist, see a hero’s friend in chains, and more. Instead, I will highlight my favorite parts in the chapters. These will be themes, interesting plot moments, things that seem relevant for today, etc.

My first highlight is the supernatural. I was surprised to see how much supernatural stuff happens. When the Empire decays, we see omens which felt like acts of the Old Testament God in the Pentateuch: strong winds, earthquakes, rainbows. Foes of the Empire learn shamanistic arts: they can wield the winds, fire, and thunderstorms in battle. It is not quite high fantasy, nor does it feel like the divine intervention of the Old Testament or the Mahabharata. 

Next, I knew this book was old, but it shows just that Chinese history is even older. Even by the events of Romance, there had already been a lot of Chinese history. The book opens with reminiscences of previous Chinese dynasties that rose and fell. Great men of the past reappear: in a supernatural scene, the leader of the rebellion meets the spirit of Zhuang Zi (you may have heard of him; he’s the one who asked, “I dreamed I was a butterfly, or am I a butterfly who is now dreaming that I am Zhuang Zi?”). In Chapter 2, when we meet Sun Jian, we learn he is a descendant of the famous Sun Tzu (author of The Art of War).

I also got to see one of my favorite subjects: the Imperial examinations! These are a literary trope that continued into the twentieth century. We learn that the leader of the rebellion is partially frustrated with the government because he had failed the Imperial examinations. Those Imperial examinations! I’ve read entire books about them. They also show up in the twentieth century as motivators for the antagonists, in stories by Lu Xun. Exams have a long and important history in Chinese culture, more so than the West.

I’ll also mention “nianhao,” which I learned from the sixth endnote in Chapter 1. These are periods established during the reign of an Emperor (“the second year of the Reign of Established Calm,” “the first year of Radiant Harmony,” “the first year of Central Stability”). I don’t know how much of this was carried forward into China’s “Cultural Revolution” or “Great Leap Forward,” which are very discrete events in Mao’s reign. I love a good alternate calendar. 

Last, as promised in the introduction, I will call out the appearance of cards from Magic: the Gathering. There are a lot! Many characters first appear here: all three brothers (Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu) at the Peach Garden Oath (the oath itself is also a card; I’ll add that this is a deserving moment of the text to highlight, probably my favorite part of these two chapters). Zhang Fei wields his spear the “Green Dragon” in Chapter 1 (on the card “Wielding the Green Dragon”). And two major characters, Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo (aka "Dong Zhou"), also appear in Chapter 1; Yuan Shao arrives in Chapter 2. The “Yellow Scarves” are a big part of the plot here; among the Magic cards, the closest tie is the “Yellow Scarves General” which includes a quote about Zhang Jue (whose story ends in Chapter 2). At the court, we meet the ten Corrupt Eunuchs (down to nine already by the end of Chapter 2), and we see their “Control of the Court” (another card). And even the first line of the book appears in the flavor text of Independent Troops. A lot of Portal: Three Kingdoms is in the opening two chapters. 

Now that I’ve got my feet on the ground with the text, I hope to highlight some specific parts of the plot for the next two chapters in my next post.