Generals of the South: The Foundation and Early History of the Three Kingdoms State of Wu
Year: 1992
Type: article
Abstract: Like most others, I was first introduced to the story of the Three Kingdoms by means of the novel and the dramas, and it was that splendid fiction which led me to investigate the history behind it all. Repeatedly, however, there is contradiction and confusion between the romantic tradition and the historical one, and the conflict is made all the more confusing by the fact that the tales told to us by Chen Shou and his rivals, collected in the commentary of Pei Songzhi, are themselves a mixture of fact and fiction. In disconcerting fashion, the history presented by Sanguo zhi often differs from the fiction of Sanguo yanyi rather as an alternative form of romance than as a neat contrast of truth with nohood. Pei Songzhi remarked upon the problem, and throughout the present work I have been faced with a kaleidoscope of possible stories. In a concluding chapter I discuss the historiography of the period, and in this respect, unlike the major school of modern criticism, which concentrates largely upon the later version of the stories as expressed in the story cycles, drama and the novel, I give first consideration to the earliest chroniclers of that age. For this viewpoint, the later development of romance is no more than a supplement to the basic question of how it really was. To deal with that basic question, I have largely used a narrative form. The first chapter discusses the situation in south China at the end of Han, and the eighth considers the nature of government, society and economy in the third-century state of Wu. A central part of the work, however, offers an account of the development of the state, with particular attention to time and place, and with concentration upon the chieftains of the Sun family and the men and women who supported and served them. I take this approach quite deliberately, for I strongly believe that if we are to understand any period of Chinese history we must have a clear picture of time and place. There is a general tendency in modern Sinology to present broad judgements on general themes, but such argument can be supported only on a firm basis of fact. As a first step to analysing and assessing the course of events, we need to know what those events were, and in the case of the Three Kingdoms there are many incidents which every schoolboy knows of, but which did not happen in the way they are commonly told. So the purpose of this work is to give a picture of the period which saw the fall of Han and the establishment of an independent state in south China. Such a picture must represent social, political and economic factors of the age, it must also include the time, the place, and the personal perceptions of the people concerned. Moreover, it is important who those people were: it was critical to Sun Jian's career that he came of obscure and distant background in a society which was dominated by gentry landowners and their clients; it is remarkable that Sun Ce achieved so much success before he reached his mid-twenties; it was vital for the fortunes of the family enterprise that Sun Quan was of sufficient age and authority to receive the allegiance of the various commanders who had served his elder brother, and it was significant for the state that he lived to rule it for so long. In such brittle dynasties, personality and individual relations played a very large role, too often neglected in the search for more general themes. And after all, if the achievements of these people set a pattern for the future and caught the imagination of those who came after them, it is only fair to look for the facts which served as basis for the legend. Even after such a length of time and behind such a refraction of romance, however blurred the view of history may be, the "third kingdom" of Wu still presents a heroism of its own.
Source: Pacific Affairs
DOI: 10.2307/2760227
Author: Joanna Waley-Cohen
Institution: Yale University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2155558501