SuaveG – The Gentle Path

Chinese mythology, folktales, and literature

Chinese historiography

  • The Partition of Jin [Warring States]

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    Rob

    By the late Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE), centuries of warfare had annihilated dozens of small states, while larger ones like Jin (centered in modern Shanxi) grew internally fragmented. Power no longer resided with the ducal house but with hereditary ministerial clans – aristocrats who controlled vast territories, commanded private armies, and governed…

  • The Myth of “Borrowing Jingzhou” [Three Kingdoms]

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    Juan

    The popular saying – “Liu Bei borrowed Jing Province and never returned” – is deeply entrenched in Chinese folklore, largely due to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Yet historical records tell a far more nuanced story. In fact, the very notion of “borrowing Jingzhou” is something of a misleading construct, if not a…

  • Why we love Liu Bei: The everyman hero [Three Kingdoms]

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    Juan

    Liu Bei is not the most brilliant strategist, nor the fiercest warrior, nor the most cunning politician of the Three Kingdoms. Yet across centuries – through both historical records like Chen Shou’s Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi) and the romanticized drama of Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms – he remains the…