HanzhongHanzhong (; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Shaanxi province, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gansu to the west. The founder of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang, was once enfeoffed as the king of the Hanzhong region after overthrowing the Qin dynasty. During the Chu-Han contention, Liu Bang shortened his title to the King of Han (漢王), and later used it as the name of his imperial dynasty.
Liu BeiLiu Bei (, ; liu2-bei4; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (玄德), was a Chinese warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. Although he was a distant relative of the Han imperial family, Liu Bei's father died when he was a child and left his family impoverished. To help his mother, he sold shoes and straw mats. When he reached the age of fifteen, his mother sent him to study under Lu Zhi. In his youth, Liu Bei was known as ambitious and charismatic.
Cao CaoCao Cao (; cao2-cao1; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde, was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet who rose to power towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty ( 184–220) and became the effective head of the Han central government during that period, the most powerful man in China. He laid the foundation for what was to become the state of Cao Wei (220–265), established by his son and successor Cao Pi, who ended the Eastern Han dynasty and inaugurated the Three Kingdoms period (220–280).
Romance of the Three KingdomsRomance of the Three Kingdoms () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD and ending with the reunification of the land in 280 by the Western Jin. The novel is based primarily on the Records of the Three Kingdoms (三國志), written by Chen Shou. The story – part historical and part fictional – romanticises and dramatises the lives of feudal lords and their retainers, who tried to supplant the dwindling Han dynasty or restore it.
JiangnanJiangnan, also romanized as Kiangnan, Chiang-nan, and Jiang Nan, is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including the southern part of its delta. The region encompasses the city of Shanghai, the southern part of Jiangsu Province, the southeastern part of Anhui Province, the northern part of Jiangxi Province and the northern part of Zhejiang Province. The most important cities in the area include Anqing, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, Shaoxing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Wenzhou, Yangzhou and Zhenjiang.
Guan YuGuan Yu (AUDGuan Yu.oggguan1-yu3; January or February 220), courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Along with Zhang Fei, he shared a brotherly relationship with Liu Bei and accompanied him on most of his early exploits. Guan Yu played a significant role in the events leading up to the end of the Han dynasty and the establishment of Liu Bei's state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period.
The Art of WarThe Art of War (, pinyin: Sūnzǐ bīngfǎ) is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is composed of 13 chapters. Each one is devoted to a different set of skills or art related to warfare and how it applies to military strategy and tactics. For almost 1,500 years it was the lead text in an anthology that was formalized as the Seven Military Classics by Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1080.
Legalism (Chinese philosophy)Fajia, often termed Legalism, is one of six classical schools of thought in Chinese philosophy. Literally meaning (administrative) methods/standards (Fa; 法) "house" or "school" (Jia), the Fa "school" represents several branches of what Feng Youlan called "men of methods", in the West often termed "realist" statesmen, who played foundational roles in the construction of the bureaucratic Chinese empire. The earliest persona of the Fajia may be considered Guan Zhong (720–645 BCE), but Chinese historians commonly regard Li Kui (455–395 BCE) as the first or "founding" "Legalist" philosopher.
Three KingdomsThe Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the Western Jin dynasty. The short-lived state of Yan on the Liaodong Peninsula, which lasted from 237 to 238, is sometimes considered as a "4th kingdom". Academically, the period of the Three Kingdoms refers to the period between the establishment of Cao Wei in 220 and the conquest of the Eastern Wu by the Western Jin in 280.
YunnanYunnan (UKjuːˈnæn, USˌjuːˈnɑːn; ) is a landlocked province in southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan, autonomous regions of Guangxi, and Tibet as well as Southeast Asian countries: Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. Yunnan is China's fourth least developed province based on disposable income per capita in 2014.
