Little Tradition in Romance of the Three Kingdoms
This article is an excerpt from Prof. SUN, Tien-Lun 's book, .
Edited by Shen Shilin, Loke Kok Kuen Chinese Cultural Legacy Research Trust Researcher.
General Background
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義) is a historical novel by Luo Guanzhong (羅貫中,c. 1300 - 1400), which was published at the turn of Yuan and Ming dynasty. The novel is based on both historical materials and folklore, followed the struggles and collaboration between warlords in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The story began with the Oath of the Peach Garden (桃園結義)—Liu Bei (劉備,161 - 223), Guan Yu (關羽,? - 220), and Zhang Fei (張飛,? - 221), who admired each other's distinctive characteristics and ambition, and joined hands to crush the Yellow Turban Rebellion. As the local warlords rose and struggled continually, Han Emperor Xian (漢獻帝,181 - 234) nominally dominate the Empire, Cao Cao (曹操,155 – 220), the ambitious prime minister of Han Empire, was the shadow ruler of the country after the death of Dong Zhuo (董卓,? - 192) who was the most powerful warlord at that time. Sun Quan (孫權,182 – 252) was another dominating figure in the novel. Cao Pi (曹丕,187 – 226), the son of Cao Cao, usurped the throne of Han Empire and build the Kingdom of Cao Wei (曹魏) after the death of his father. Afterward, Liu Bei and Sun Quan successively set up the Kingdom of Shu Han (蜀漢) and Eastern Wu (東吳). Shu Han symbolized the kingdom of loyalty and benevolence, Liu Bei possessed goodness, justice, and compassion. Eastern Wu teetered on the edge of evil and Sun Quan was a pragmatist who did not pay homage to ethical restraints. Cao Wei was described as an illegitimate and immoral empire; whereas Cao Cao was represented as a callous achiever. These three characters in the book represented the value and expectations of the people at that time, which symbolized justice and evil in the conflict. In addition, they were given superhuman strength in the novel and were thus worshipped and revered by people. In this sense, the characters in the classical novels played an important role in the formation of the Little Tradition.

When viewed as an encyclopedia of military and political ethics (Lei, 2000), the most intriguing parts of the novel were those that reveal how battles were lost and won through strategic planning, in which the Confucian value of wisdom (智) was prominently featured. Wisdom was exemplified primarily through two archenemies, Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮,181 - 234) and Zhou Yu (周瑜,175 - 210). Zhuge Liang was portrayed as a moralist and gentleman (Jun Zi, 君子) and Zhou Yu as a petty man (小人). Zhuge Liang repeatedly outwitted Zhou Yu because the actions of the former were governed by loyalty (忠), righteousness (義) and benevolence (仁), whereas those of the latter were designed to benefit himself and the unscrupulous master he served. The moral of the story could not be any clearer.
The Virtue of Faithfulness
The story began with a demonstration of loyalty (忠) in which the three heroes, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, swore to form a brotherhood to defend the rulers of the Han Dynasty. Later, when it became clear that the emperor had submitted to the control of Cao Cao - a cruel, calculating, and narrow-minded minister, the loyalties of the three characters gradually shifted to the brotherhood, with Liu Bei being recognized as the big brother. A famous Chinese proverb, "Wives are like clothing, but brothers are like limbs," comes from this novel and shows the priority given to the loyalty between sworn brothers over the love between husband and wife. In another example of loyalty, Guan Yu, who found himself obliged to serve under Cao Cao for a short period of time due to Cao's trickery, openly expressed his disenchantment at the situation and sought to return to Liu Bei's side as quickly as possible, because in his mind, Liu Bei was the only brother and overlord worthy of his loyalty.
The Virtue of Righteousness
Although all of the heroes were portrayed as being in possession of righteousness (義), only Guan Yu was deemed to be the paramount exemplar of the virtue. On numerous occasions, he risked his life to protect Liu Bei, not only out of a sense of loaylty, but also because it was simply the right thing to do. Guan Yu also released Cao Cao from captivity because he felt indebted to him for having once taken him under his wings (Chapter 50 of the novel). "Emperor Guan (關帝)", "Lord Guan (關公)" and "Elder Brother Guan with righteousness (關義哥)" are his honorifics well-known amongst Chinese people. Over time, Guan Yu has effectively become a symbol for the virtues of loyalty and righteousness, as well as the official god of warriors and fighters. His statue is often displayed in places such as police stations and other places where loyalty and righteousness are deemed to be of supreme importance.

The antithesis of Guan Yu is Cao Cao, whose name is considered to be synonymous with treachery, trickery, dishonesty, betrayal, and other similarly negative characteristics. In Cao Cao's world, there was no room for benevolence, righteousness, loyalty, propriety, or sincerity—all values held in high esteemed in a collectivistic culture. In the novel, Cao Cao was extremely ambitious, fashioning himself as a conqueror and going to great lengths to attain his goals. One of his famous sayings is that "I would rather that I betray the world instead of being betrayed by it! (寧教我負天下人,休教天下人負我!)" Although his army was larger than the combined armies of the other two kingdoms, he was repeatedly defeated by them. Herein lies another Confucian teaching that in all endeavors, including wars, moral superiority is far more important than any technical skills in achieving results and success. In fact, these skills can neither be acquired nor exercised unless one has first been subjected to a course of moral cultivation (Ruhlman, 1964).
The Virtue of Benevolence
Liu Bei was portrayed as an exemplar of benevolence (仁). He was shown to care about his sworn brothers, his followers, and the common people he encountered, often risking his life and freedom to do so. Of course, his primary claim to benevolence lay in his intent to quell the rebellions against the Han Dynasty so that the common people could return to a life of peace and prosperity. Although Liu Bei was the most benevolent of the overlords, he was never able to realize his dream of unifying China, and this apparent contradiction with the Confucian moral teaching that "The benevolent is invincible. (仁者無敵)" is simply written off in the end as a matter of fatalistic determinism. In this sense, Confucianism and Buddhism play complementary roles in the lives of the ordinary people.
The virtue of Wisdom
In addition to the battles fought on the field, the incessant battles of wits between Zhuge Liang, the chief advisor to Liu Bei, and various other characters in the novel have provided rich material for a range of modern-day culture, including television dramas and video games. Three notable instances of these battles of wits are as follows:
- In Chapter 46, Zhuge Liang placed a wager with Zhou Yu—his arch enemy in the department of wit and strategy—that he could obtain 100,000 arrows within a few days, and that Zhou Yu could have his head should he fail to do so. He accomplished this task by tying straw figures onto boats and sailing them in thick fog towards Cao Cao's military camp. Thinking that his camp was under attack, Cao Cao countered by launching volleys of arrows towards the boats, thus enabling Zhuge Liang to obtain his 100,000 arrows.
- In Chapter 90, during his attempts to crush the rebellion headed by a courageous warrior, Meng Huo (孟獲,? - ?), Zhuge Liang caught him alive and subsequently released him seven times to demonstrate his superior ability to outwit his opponents. In the end, Meng willingly surrendered.
- In Chapter 49 of the novel, in the Battle of the Red Cliff in which the main tactic involved using firepower, the presence of easterly winds was essential. However, easterly winds were extremely rare during winter. Zhuge Liang claimed that he could use magic to "borrow" easterly winds from the gods. He erected an elaborate altar and ordered the guards to follow specific rituals, and successfully "borrowed" the easterly winds. In truth, Zhuge simply used his extensive Taoist knowledge of weather forecasting to accomplish the task, but he built the altar to inveigle the people, because no one would undertake such an important battle based on his knowledge alone.

In time, the name Zhuge Liang has become synonymous with sagacity, wisdom, talent, wittiness, resourcefulness, and strategic planning , and Zhuge Liang himself exemplifies the Confucian virtue of wisdom (Zhi, 智). Confucius believed that "The wise desire virtue"(知者利仁). Furthermore, Confucians have always regarded wisdom as a protective shield, in that "The wise are free from perplexities(智者不惑)." This link between wisdom and benevolence is of great importance, as the success of the society relies on the work of intelligent people who know what to do in order to develop a harmonious social climate.
Zhuge Liang is highly praised not only for his wisdom, but also for his love of the common people, for being incorruptible, and for living a simple and placid life while pursuing his dream of uniting China (Sun, 1994). In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he is further portrayed as a person of infinite patience who never loses his composure and is always in control of his emotions. In short, he exemplifies the Confucian sage.
Reference
1. Ruhlmann, R. (1964). Traditional heroes in Chinese popular fiction. In A. F. Wright (Ed.), Confucianism and Chinese civilization (pp. 122-157). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
2. 孫遜(1994),〈中國小說述略〉,《上海師範大學學報》,3,78-82。
3. 雷希(2000),〈中國四大古典文學名著的現代倫理啟示〉,《雲南師範大學學報》,32, 3,48-52。
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