– By Zhang Hua (Western Jin Dynasty) The wren is but a tiny bird –Born among weeds and wild grasses,Raised beneath garden hedges.It flutters and gathers within ordinary spaces,Yet its needs for life are fully met.
A historical text compiled by Chen Shou (233–297 CE) during the Western Jin dynasty. It is a biographical state-by-state history chronicling the Three Kingdoms period – Wei, Shu, and Wu – and comprises 65 scrolls: Book of Wei (30 scrolls),Book of Shu (15 scrolls), and Book of Wu (20 scrolls).
This article reveals Western Jin’s elite obsession with conspicuous consumption. Figures like Shi Chong and Wang Kai competed wildly in luxury – from lavish feasts to a famous coral tree contest. Their decadence, cruelty, and moral decay eroded the state, laying ground for the catastrophic War of the Eight Princes.
by Li Mi (Western Jin Dynasty) Your servant Li Mi speaks: I have suffered misfortune since birth and was early visited by sorrow. My father died when I was just six months old; at age four, my uncle forced my mother to remarry against her will. My grandmother Lady Liu, pitying my orphaned and…