Posted on 09/23/2013 4:52:17 PM PDT by nickcarraway
In the shadow of a lush mountain and near a slow-moving river in southeast China sits this village, whose name means Dragon Gate.
There are narrow alleys and whitewashed homes and the flesh of sliced bamboo drying on the ground. Its humble appearance, though, belies the fact that it played a role in the famous Three Kingdoms era, when kings leading rival states fought in the third century over the right to succeed the Han empire. The blood-drenched stories were immortalized in a 14th-century classic by Luo Guanzhong, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which in turn has spawned countless films, television shows and other adaptations.
This village is so important because the people are descended from Sun Quan, said one resident, Sun Yaxiao, 25, as she walked with visitors one afternoon through the alleys. Sun Quan was one of the three major kings in the early period of the Three Kingdoms, a figure known to most Chinese.
People named Sun are rare; there just arent that many, she said. There arent as many as those named Huang, for example.
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The Three Kingdoms is to China what The Iliad is to the West. Its tales of battlefield heroics and betrayal, palace intrigue and passions, stir the imagination here. It also resonates with the Chinese because its sweeping narrative encapsulates a historical rhythm that they see as an immutable fact, one expressed in the opening lines: The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been.
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(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Huang Wa Lo, the ladies man.
As a character in that classic novel, I am humbled by all the attention.
You make do with what you’ve got.
Indeed.
Neat article
Did a little googling of the Three Kings period. Interesting history. Lots of battles and intrigue. I can see how it became part of the popular imagination.
“Three Kingdoms Period” ...er... Korea has one of those too
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