Romance of The Three Kingdoms (full name: Popular Romance of The Three Kingdoms, also known as Romance of The Three Kingdoms).
Luo Guanzhong, a novelist in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, annotated The Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou and Pei Songzhi.
And folk tales of The Three Kingdoms through artistic processing and creation of the long chapter hui historical novels.
With "Journey to the West" "Outlaws of the Marsh" "Dream of the Red Chamber" and known as the Four classical Chinese classics.
译文：《三国演义》（全名为《三国志通俗演义》，又称《三国志演义》）。
是元末明初小说家罗贯中根据陈寿《三国志》和裴松之注解。
以及民间三国故事传说经过艺术加工创作而成的长篇章回体历史演义小说。
与《西游记》《水浒传》《红楼梦》并称为中国古典四大名著。
文学特色
《三国演义》以人物为载体形象地衍绎了中国传统文化的基本精神，即仁、义、礼、智、信、勇等中国传统文化价值体系中的核心因素。
小说中的刘备就是“仁”的代表，关羽是“义”的代表，张飞是“勇”的代表，诸葛亮是“智”的代表，赵云是“忠”的代表等等。刘备是小说里的中心人物，也是中国文化精神中“仁”的体现者。
Romance of The Three Kingdoms is one of the great chinese classics and is compiled into a semi-fictional literary masterpiece during the Ming Dynasty by Luo Guanzhong. The novel comprises around 70+% fact and 20+% fiction. Some issues such as Guan Yu's weapon weighing around 40+ kilograms, the capabilties of Lu Bu, Liu Bei's horses as well as the existence of the Hill of the Fallen Phoenix and some others are probably fictional.
That period in history can be said as the golden age of chivalry and although it happened more than 1700 years ago, characters such as Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhuge Liang have become household names among the chinese. Tales of their exploits, courage, adventures and many more are told in the novel "Romance of The Three Kingdoms".
It is one of the most turbulent periods in China's history taking place toward the end of the Han Dynasty where corruption is rampant in the imperial court due to eunuches holding power. Coupled with natural disasters such as floods, plague and locust swarms devouring the crops grown by the peasants, hunger and disatisfaction among the peasants soon escalated rapidly until a major rebellion known as the "Yellow Scarves Rebellion" led by Zhang Jiao broke out. (It was dubbed "Yellow Scarves" because the rebels tied a yellow scarf on their head). Initially just a small band of rebels, due to widespread hunger and ill-sentiment among the populace, swarms of common folks joined in the rebellion across many parts of the country.
