About the Three Kingdoms Novel
Introduction
The Dynasty Warriors games are based on a Chinese novel called (Romance of the) Three Kingdoms, or San Guo Yan Yi 三国演义. This novel, attributed to Luo Guanzhong, was written between 1400 and 1500 A.D. It is 120 chapters and over a thousand pages long, unabridged. It is considered one of the four classics of Chinese literature, and is extremely popular in China, Japan, and the rest of Asia. Its style and influence is comparable to Le Morte d'Arthur and other stories of King Arthur in the Western hemisphere.
Three Kingdoms is based on real Chinese history. It recounts the fall of the Han dynasty, from the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184 A.D. to the reunification of China under the Jin dynasty in 280 A.D. The novel is not 100% accurate — it has been described as "7 parts truth, 3 parts fiction." The "romance" part of the title does not refer to a love story — traditionally, a "romance" is a heroic adventure story set in ancient times.
Last updated: 15 April 2008.