Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, widely regarded as one of the greatest works of Chinese literature. Written 600 years ago, it is an historical novel that tells the story of a tumultuous period in Chinese history, the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Partly historical and partly legend, it recounts the fighting and scheming of the feudal lords and the three states which came to power as the Han Dynasty collapsed. The influence of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in East Asia has been likened to that of Homer in the West, and this warfare epic remains popular in China today.

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Frances Wood 10 episodes
  Former Lead Curator of Chinese Collections at the British Library
• Craig Clunas 5 episodes
  Professor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford
• Margaret Hillenbrand No other episodes
  University Lecturer in Modern Chinese Literature at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Wadham College

Reading list

• Three Kingdoms and Chinese Culture
  Kimberly Besio and Constantine Tung (SUNY Press, 2007) Google Books →
• Public Success, Private Sorrow: The Life and Times of Charles Henry Brewitt-Taylor (1857-1938), China Customs Commissioner and Pioneer Translator
  Cyril Cannon (Hong Kong University Press, 2009) Google Books →
• Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel
  Luo Guanzhong (trans. Moss Roberts) (various publishers )
• The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600
  Valerie Hansen (Norton, 2000) Google Books →
• Reading Illustrated Fiction in Late Imperial China
  Robert E. Hegel (Stanford University Press, 1998)
• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Mao's Global Order of Tripolarity
  Lai Sing Lam (Oxford University Press, 2011) Google Books →
• The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel
  Andrew H. Plaks (Princeton University Press, 1992) Google Books →
• How to Read the Chinese Novel
  David L. Rolston (ed.) (Princeton University Press, 1990) Google Books →

Related episodes

• Journey to the West
  
  20 May, 2021 890 Other literatures
• The An Lushan Rebellion
  
  16 Feb, 2012 950 History of Asia
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  
  18 Apr, 2019 820 English and Old English literatures
• The Ramayana
  
  9 Mar, 2023 290 Other religions
• The Battle of Talas
  
  9 Oct, 2014 950 History of Asia
• Tang Era Poetry
  
  12 May, 2022 890 Other literatures
• The Long March
  
  29 Nov, 2018 950 History of Asia
• Sources of Early Chinese History
  
  23 Jan, 2014 950 History of Asia
• The Taiping Rebellion
  
  24 Feb, 2011 950 History of Asia
• The Wars of the Roses
  
  18 May, 2000 940 History of Europe
• The Han Synthesis
  
  14 Oct, 2004 950 History of Asia
• The Mabinogion
  
  10 May, 2018 800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism
• Le Morte d’Arthur
  
  10 Jan, 2013 800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism
• Shahnameh of Ferdowsi
  
  13 Dec, 2012 890 Other literatures
• Chinese Legalism
  
  10 Dec, 2015 950 History of Asia
• Is Shakespeare History? The Plantagenets
  
  11 Oct, 2018 820 English and Old English literatures
• China’s Warring States period
  
  1 Apr, 2004 950 History of Asia
• The Nibelungenlied
  
  1 Dec, 2022 830 German and related literatures
• The Odyssey
  
  9 Sep, 2004 880 Classical and modern Greek literatures
• Li Shizhen
  
  28 Nov, 2019 610 Medicine and health

---

Programme ID: b02ykzh7

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02ykzh7

Auto-category: 951 (China)