Records of the Three Kingdoms

The Records was compiled by Chen Shou, a former official of the Shu Han state, after the Jin dynasty unified China in 280. He organized the work into three books: the Book of Wei (30 volumes), the Book of Shu (15 volumes), and the Book of Wu (20 volumes). The Book of Wei is treated as the legitimate succession from the Han dynasty, reflecting the political stance of the Jin, which claimed legitimacy through Wei.¹

Unlike later dynastic histories, the Records lacks treatises on law, geography, or economics, and it does not include tables or biographies of notable women. Chen Shou's concise style, however, was praised for its accuracy and economy, and the text became the standard source for the period.²

The Records provides detailed accounts of the major figures of the era, including Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Quan, and Zhuge Liang, as well as hundreds of lesser officials and generals. It is the earliest source for many events later romanticized, such as the Battle of Red Cliffs and the assassination attempt on Cao Cao by Xu Chu. The text is valued for its factual reliability, though Chen Shou's personal biases and the political constraints of his time occasionally shaped his portrayals.³

Later scholars, notably Pei Songzhi in the 5th century, added extensive annotations that preserved many lost works, making the Records a rich repository of primary sources. Pei's commentary is often longer than the original text and includes critical evaluations of conflicting accounts.⁴

The Records was transmitted through manuscript copies for centuries, with the earliest printed edition appearing in the Song dynasty. The most widely used modern edition is the punctuated version published by Zhonghua Book Company in 1959, based on a critical collation of various editions. This edition includes Pei Songzhi's annotations and is the standard reference for scholars.

Partial translations exist in English and other languages, but a complete English translation was only completed in 2020 by Robert Joe Cutter and William Gordon Crowell, published by Yale University Press. This translation makes the full text accessible to Western readers for the first time.⁵

Beyond its political narrative, the Records contains valuable information on the economy, culture, and foreign relations of the Three Kingdoms. For instance, the Book of Wu includes a detailed account of the kingdom of Funan (in present-day Cambodia), which is one of the earliest Chinese descriptions of Southeast Asia.⁶

Chen Shou's work also influenced Japanese and Korean historiography, as the Records includes the earliest Chinese references to the Japanese archipelago, describing the Yamatai kingdom and its queen Himiko. This passage has been the subject of intense scholarly debate regarding the location of Yamatai and the nature of early Japanese society.⁷

Chen Shou

Author of the Records of the Three Kingdoms, a historian of the Jin dynasty.

Pei Songzhi

5th-century scholar who annotated the Records with extensive commentary.

Twenty-Four Histories

The official Chinese historical texts covering a period from antiquity to the Ming dynasty.