The Three Kingdoms represents one of the bloodiest periods in Chinese history. It took place between 220 – 280 AD and was caused by the chaotic infighting between the states of Wei (魏), Shu (蜀), and Wu (吳) as they sought imperial power in ancient China, following the Han Dynasty and the crushing of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Although a relatively short period in Chinese history, the Three Kingdoms as with many periods of warfare has been greatly romanticized in the cultures of China, Korea, Japan, and even Vietnam. It has been popularized in folk tales, novels, and in more recent times has become a popular subject for television, film and even video games.

The factors leading up to the Three Kingdoms period

The story begins in the year 184 during the reign of Emperor Ling when peasants began to revolt against the Han Dynasty, ultimately becoming known as the Yellow Turban Rebellion. The rebellion like much unrest we have seen across the ages can be largely summarized as being caused by a large divide in wealth between the rich and poor, along with the weakening of the Han Dynasty from a political stand point.

As the Han Dynasty came to an end, the imperial army fought to defeat the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and eventually reduced their military threat by 205 AD. During this time the generals that were given the task of putting down the rebellion had grown strong in power and wealth and saw an opportunity to use this to seize imperial power for themselves.

There were three key players in this power struggle:

• Cao Cao, who served as the captain of cavalry.
• Liu Bei, a distant relative of the Han imperial family.
• Sun Quan, who was known as ‘the general who attacks barbarians’.

In 205 AD Cao Cao became the dictator in Northern China, whilst Liu Bei created a stronghold in the area now known as Sichuan province, while Sun Quan based himself in the southeast.

Cao Cao is largely cast as the aggressor in the Three Kingdoms, and with very clear ambitions to reunite China under a single ruler he pushed his army hard as they marched south against the states of Shu and Wu.

Meanwhile, Liu Bei (Shu) and Sun Quan (Wu) knew that Cao Cao had a large numerical advantage in terms of soldiers. Having already defeated the Jing Province, Liu Bei and Sun Quan were forced to form an alliance to combine their strength against Cao Cao.

Having done so, they moved their army to meet Cao Cao at the infamous battle of the red cliffs.

The Battle of Red Cliffs

The Battle of the Red Cliffs took place some 12 years prior to the official period of the Three Kingdoms and occurred in an area along the Yangtze River somewhere around present day Hubei and Hunan provinces.

Cao Cao knew that if he had any hope of uniting China under his rule he needed to achieve naval control of the Yangtze River and its strategic naval base at Jiangling, which would give him greater access to the southern region of China.

The initial campaign was highly favourable for Cao Cao, and he was able to capture the naval base at Jiangling, taking command of a sizeable naval fleet and a key strategic military depot. As Cao Cao continued his advances, Liu Bei and Sun Quan negotiated and agreed upon an alliance, combining their forces to create an army of some 50,000 men.
 

Whilst Cao Cao had boasted of having 800,000 soldiers, estimates put his number closer to 200,000, still giving him an overwhelming numerical advantage that would have been enough in most cases to guarantee victory.

The battle itself can be segmented into 3 critical parts

1. An initial skirmish at the Red Cliffs, which caused Cao Cao to retreat to Wulin.
2. A decisive naval engagement on the Yangtze River.
3. Cao Cao’s disastrous retreat along the Huarong Road.

The initial skirmish came as the combined forces of Sun-Liu encountered Cao Cao’s vanguard force at the Red Cliffs. Plagued by disease and low morale from the continued march south, Cao Cao’s forces were unable to gain an advantage, and thus retreated to Wulin.

Having chained his great naval fleet together to reduce the level of seasickness among his soldiers, Cao Cao received a letter from one of the Sin-Liu commanders offering their surrender. His name was Huang Gai, and it turned out to be a ruse. Instead of surrendering, Huang Gai had his ships turned into fire boats, filling them with dry reeds and burning oil.

This famous part of the battle, led to Liu Bei saying ‘Everything is prepared, all we need now is the Eastern wind’ in relation to the ships needing an eastern wind to push them into Cao Cao’s resting fleet. This has since become a Chinese idiom, meaning ‘everything is ready; we just lack one crucial element’.

As the ships headed towards Cao Cao’s fleet, the men departed into smaller crafts and set the ships alight. The unmanned ships, propelled by that favourable eastern wind, smashed into Cao Cao’s fleet with many men and horses either killed by the flames or through drowning.

Further skirmishes on land, led to Cao Cao sounding the retreat along the Huarong Road, which included a treacherous pass through bogey marshland. As a result of prolonged heavy rain, many soldiers drowned in the mud or were trampled to death in the effort to reach Nan Commandery (present day Jiangling County, Jingzhou, Hubei).

Famine, combined with disease had decimated Cao Cao’s remaining forces leading Cao Cao to retreat north to his home base of Ye (present day Handan, Hebei) leaving his generals to guard among other key strategic locations – Jiangling. By the end of 209 AD Jiangling had fallen to Zhou Yu and thus fell under the rule of Sun Quan.

The Three Kingdoms Begins

Despite being beaten at the Yangtze River, Cao Cao continued to rule Wei in the north, whilst Liu Bei the Shu state in the west and Sun Quan the Wu state in the southeast.

Continued fighting occurred in the preceding years, and new emperors came and went across the Three Kingdoms, but ultimately sheer numbers prevailed, and Wei, with the largest population of the three states prevailed, defeating Shu in 263 AD.

After an internal power struggle, Wei changed its named to Jin before going on to defeat Wu in 280 AD, re-unifying China and bringing the Three Kingdoms period to a close.

Spanning the best part of 60 years, the Three Kingdoms period brought about countless tales of heroism, cunning and deceit, which coupled with an awfully high death toll made it a sure fire story for the ages.

Born in the 20th century, Chinese artist Cai Jun represents the art of a progressive and contemporary China. His distinctive style combined with evident and fascinating subjects produce an array of humorous yet potent works. In the series of works titled The Three Kingdoms, Cai Jun illustrates the bloodiest period in Chinese history in a playful and intriguing way.

After the lighthearted and entertaining Film Series, what made you choose a subject as grave as the deadliest period in Chinese history?

Being an artist does not just mean producing artwork. It means observing what is around you and reflecting on it. I get all my inspiration from my surroundings and personal experiences. I grew up in the 80s when westernization was at its boom in China. There was a fascination towards everything western including movies. I was absolutely certain that a concept like the Film Series would be appreciated.

Westernization has its advantages but one of the most severe drawbacks is that we start to lose our own culture. I noticed how my generation slowly started to discard their own customs and traditions. With The Three Kingdoms, I am essentially exploring the Chinese identity. I want to retell the glorious stories of our past in a way that will be appreciated by all generations.

Who are the Palm Blossom Warriors?

Between 220 AD – 280 AD, China was caught in the midst of a tripartite power struggle. The country was divided under the dynasties of Wei, Shu and Wu. Each state was headed by a warlord that claimed to be the true successor of the Han dynasty. The chaos and conflict that ensued is still known as the second deadliest and bloodiest war after World War II.

Palm Blossom Warriors depicts the three most accomplished warlords or the central figures from the rival kingdoms – Cao Cao from the Wei dynasty, Liu Bei from the Shu dynasty and Sun Quan from the Wu dynasty.

The painting titled Drift has a very interesting story behind it. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

There is a popular Chinese idiom based on an ancient story, Borrowing Arrows With Thatched Boats (草船借箭) that is used to appreciate one’s ingenuity and wit. Drift illustrates the same incident.

The Wei Dynasty had the most powerful army in terms of numbers as well as resources. During a battle, the Wu and Shu warlords decided to ally against the common enemy. The Shu military general came up with a very clever strategy to weaken the Wei army. He instructed his soldiers to build boats with straw figures on them.

On one misty evening, they sent out the boats towards the enemy. The Wei army naturally mistook the approaching boats for an attack and started firing arrows. The boats ended up returning filled with the enemy’s arrows which were then used by the Wu and Shu alliance to achieve victory.

Why did you only choose to illustrate Cao Cao and not any other important figure from the period?

Cao Cao was one of the most well known figures among all three kingdoms. He was at the forefront of the Wei dynasty and took his empire to great achievements and victories in battle. He is often portrayed as a cruel tyrant. However, he was actually an excellent strategist and an accomplished politician. He was also a great poet. He was both master of the pen as well as the sword.

In Hero, I illustrate the misunderstood, but yet one of the greatest rulers in Chinese history.