The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2019 - Issue 26

bite theatre One of the most dramatic periods in Chinese his- tory was the Three Kingdoms which took place between 220 and 280 AD and formed the tripar- tite states of Wei, Shu, and Wu. To really under- stand the events that led up to this period, you have to go back to the late 2nd-century starting with the Yellow Turban Rebellion. This peasant re- volt against the Eastern Han dynasty, in the spring of 184 AD was used as the opening event in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Despite the Yellow Turban Rebellion’s defeat, this did not stop another revolt arising in the winter of 184 that lasted five years. The Liang Province Rebellion started as an insurrection of the Qiang people against the Han dynasty in the western province of Liang but grew when the Lesser Yuezhi and sympathetic Han rebels joined the cause to wrestle control of the province away from the cen- tral authority. Eventually, this led to the decline and ultimate downfall of the Han dynasty. After the death of Emperor Ling, the 12th em- peror of the Han dynasty, in 189, his son Liu Bian took over the throne at the age of 13. In the same year, He Jin, who was both Liu Bian’s regent and uncle, was killed by the Ten Eunuchs, who them- selves were massacred by warlord Yuan Shao. Military general and warlord Dong Zhou took con- trol of Luoyang, deposed of Liu Bian as emperor and placed his half brother Liu Xie, Emperor Xian of Han on the throne. Yuan Shao then led an an- ti-Dong Zhou alliance in the East to get rid of the tyrant. A series of battles erupted with Dong Zhou defeat- ing warlord Cao Cao at Xingyang, Henan in 190; warlords Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu fought at the Battle of Yangcheng in 191; politician Wang Yun and military general and warlord Lü Bu killed Dong Zhou in 192, with Wang Yun losing his life in the process; and Cao Cao invaded Xu Province and Yan Province in 193 and 194. While Emperor Xian of Han managed to escape the mayhem, Yuan Shu took over the imperial title but was driven south by Cao Cao. In 197, Cao Cao and military general and mi- nor warlord Zhang Xiu clashed at the Battle of Wancheng. Two years later Cao Cao and Liu Bei defeated Lü Bu at the Battle of Xiapi and Yuan Shao eliminated military general and warlord Gongsun Zan in You Province at the Battle of Yi- jing. In 200, Yuan Shao himself was defeated by Cao Cao at the Battle of Guandu, followed by Cao Cao being defeated by Liu Bei at the Battle of Xinye