Zhang Jue led the revolt of the Yellow Turbans, so named because he and his followers wore headdresses of gold—a color reserved for the Chinese emperor. The revolt broke out in 184, and spread throughout China. In 189 a military leader named Ts'ao Ts'ao (DZOW-dzow; c. 150-230) suppressed the uprising. Ts'ao Ts'ao became the effective ruler of the Han dynasty, and in 220 he established a new dynasty called Wei (WAY).
The years from 221 to 265 became known as the time of the Three Kingdoms. The Wei dynasty ruled in the north, in areas once controlled by the Han dynasty; to the south was the kingdom of Wu, ruled by the Sun dynasty; and to the west was the third kingdom, Shu. This period might be compared to the Civil War in America (1861-65): both events represented painful times in the history of their respective nations, and they would be remembered with a great deal of emotion. In America, novels such as The Red Badge of Courage (1895) by Stephen Crane and Gone with the Wind (1936) by Margaret Mitchell would keep the Civil War's memory alive, and Mitchell at least—like Lo Kuan-chung before her—portrayed the war as a romantic struggle. Crane and Mitchell, however, were depicting events of the recent past, whereas Lo Kuan-chung was writing about something that had happened a thousand years before his lifetime.
It is understandable why Lo Kuan-chung would have wanted to portray the Three Kingdoms era in glowing terms. Despite the problems caused by the near-constant warfare of the period, the era also saw great advances in Chinese learning and culture. Taoism and Buddhism took hold as new religions in the country; Chinese doctors made significant progress in the study of medicine; and during this time, kites, coal as a means of heat, and encyclopedias all made their first appearance in China. Stability returned in 581, as Yang Chien (YAHNG jee-AHN; ruled 581-604) seized the throne in one of the many small states that controlled China during the period; after eight years spent consolidating his power, he took the imperial throne and founded the Sui dynasty.
World History
