4 years in development, and broadcast over 5 seasons, this was perhaps the most expensive TV show or even Movie ever produced in the history of the planet. Made for 170,000,000 yuan, if you translate the per-capita GDP of china at the time into the per-capita GDP currently, (28 times more) and translate the currencies, you end up with a TV show that cost the equivalent of $976,000,000 to make in modern dollars. Additionally they used 400,000 actors in the show - mostly background actors in battle scenes - many of which were from the Peoples Liberation Army. For comparison, D-Day, which liberated europe, only involved 156,000 troops.
So why would they do this? 1990 China was not rich. And by 1994 when the show began airing, china was still growing. Why so much dedication to this "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" anyway? What is this "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
It is a mostly historical novel accounting the end of the Han dynasty in China. The story has been romanticized (hence the romance) with some blanks filled in, such as character motivation, to create an enticing narrative. The Three Kingdoms period in history is, in my personal opinion, one of the most interesting to have occurred.
While there are no official death tolls, census figures from the era show China lost tens of millions. If accurate, this would indicate that a number of people died equal to WW2, the Mongol conquests, or the Colonization of the Americas.
So what happened during this period? Well thats what this post is about, I'm going to try to explain it to you in a summary.
The Han Dynasty existed roughly between 200BC and 200AD. The "Three Kingdoms" period lasted roughly equal to the Severan Dynasty in Rome (if you know a lot about Rome). It is difficult to put an official "start date" on the collapse of the Han. The Han itself was a crucial dynasty to China, and even to this day, if you ash a Chinese person (in chinese) what their ethnicity is, they will answer "Han"
In 168, Emperor Ling came to the throne. He was 12 at the time. This was not uncommon. For the past number of decades, no Emperor lived to 40, and young Emperors were the norm. The government officials, mostly staffed by eunuchs, began to thus take control over the government. This came at a time of climate change which reduced the yields of farms in central and northern China. Corrupt officials aggravated the problem and in 184 the yellow turban rebellion broke out.
Although the rebels were put down, a decree was issued that basically allowed governors of the provinces to raise their own armies, reasoning this would make rebellions easier to deal with. In 189, Emperor Ling died. Ling, whose birth name was Liu Hong, had two surviving sons, Liu Bian and Liu Xie. Bian was older and born to the sister of He Jin, while Xie was younger but preferred by Ling to be his successor. When Ling died, He Jin, by then the commander in chief of the army, installed Liu Bian as Emperor. This causes a revolt among the eunuchs who invited in Dong Zhuo to the capital with his army. He Jin was killed and Dong Zhuo installed the 8 year old Liu Xie as Emperor Xian.
Dong Zhuo was a tyrant, and an alliance of 18 warlords was raised to overthrow him. Lead by Yuan Shao, they did just that. In the process a few other warlords got their names (IE became famous). Sun Jian, descendant from Sun Tzu, found the Imperial Seal, the 'rubber stamp' with which documents from the Emperor were stamped with. His sons, Sun Ce and Sun Quan would become famous as well. Yuan Shu, cousin of the older Shao, also gained a strong position. Liu Bei, who was raised by his mother in near poverty, but descended from previous Emperors, also came to be known. Cao Cao rose to prominence as well, and would eventually "protect" the Emperor (IE control him) from his capital of Xuchang.
After some dicey battles with Lu Bu, one of the era's most famous generals, and trickery involving Liu Bei, Cao Cao was able to gain control of part of China's central plain. The remainder was mostly held by Yuan Shao. Sun Ce set himself up in the Southeast after breaking off from Yuan Shu who he had been serving. Yuan Shu, now having the Imperial Seal, declared himself Emperor and was promptly defeated in a war, leading to the Imperial Seal ending up in Cao Cao's hands. All of this while Ma Teng grew stronger in the Northwest.
I have a map to help. I did not make it and forget the exact source, but I believe it came from the-scholars.com
Liu Bei would next be seen when he took over from Liu Biao. It's a long story exactly how, but it involved help from Sun Quan. As such when Liu Bei took over the lands of Liu Zhang, Sun Quan moved in to take over former Liu Biao lands. He had already, by this point. locked up lands of Shi Zie. Zhang Lu's lands also went to Liu Bei.
Cao Cao would have an epic battle with Yuan Shao at Guandu, one he eventually won, and annexed all of the land of the central plains. He would also defeat Ma Teng. Eventually, Cao Cao got old, and died.
His son Cao Pi, would declare the state of Cao Wei, and Cao Pi declared himself Emperor, officially bringing to the end the Han. Liu Bei would declare himself Emperor as well from his base in the Shu region, claiming to be the continuation of the Han. Sun Quan would also eventually declare himself Emperor of the state known as Eastern Wu, leading to the three kingdoms period.
Cao Wei would defeat Shu Han in battle and annexed it, but over time successors to the throne became outmaneuvered by the descendants of Sima Yi. As such the Sima family took control became known as the Jin Dynasty. Finally Sima Yan, known oddly enough as Emperor Wu, would defeat and annex Wu in 280, officially ending the Three Kingdoms period. Sadly, Emperor Wu was far more interested in women and drinking, and the Jin Dynasty would not last.
Census records indicate that prior to the fall of the Han, the population was near 60 million, and after it, 20 million. It is known (but disputed in Japan) that the Yamato people (IE the Japanese) arrived in great numbers in Japan during this time period, likely fleeing famine and warfare, so not all of the missing people died. Regardless, it would not be until the Song Dynasty that China would again experience a period as long and stable and populated as it had during the Han, and quite literally not until perhaps a decade ago that a single, united China, free of foreign rulers, and safe from invasion, has risen up to equal the local domination in the region of the Han.
The Three Kingdoms era was a big deal. If you are interested in history and want to learn about what happened outside Europe and the Americas, this is a great place to start. The 1994 TV show is not the only one. Another series made in 2010 can be thought of as China's game of thrones, with epic battle scenes, personal plotting, and quality acting (especially on the part of Chen Jianbin whose laugh gives Cao Cao an both humanity and deviousness) There are also Video games; fighting games such as Dynasty Warriors, and Strategy games in KOEI's Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, 13 being the most recent. There are places where you can play emulated RTK games from the SNES (I recommend RTK3, which I dumped hours into as a child)
All in all it is a very interesting piece of history to dive in to, and knowing this only makes it obvious why China chose this to be what some consider the birth of its modern entertainment industry in 1994.
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