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Ronald C. Iverson

The Three Kingdoms, Volume 1: The Sacred Oath: The Epic Chinese Tale of Loyalty and War in a Dynamic New Translation (with Footnotes) Paperback – May 20, 2014

by Luo Guanzhong (Author), Ronald C. Iverson (Editor), Yu Sumei (Translator)

181 ratings

Book 1 of 3: The Three Kingdoms

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This exciting new translation of the Chinese classic is designed to delight modern readers.

The Three Kingdoms is an epic Chinese novel written over six centuries ago. It recounts in vivid historical detail the turbulent years at the close of the Han Dynasty when China broke into three competing kingdoms and over half the population was killed or driven from their homes. readers will experience the loyalty and treachery, the brotherhood and rivalry of China's legendary heroes and villains during the most tumultuous period in Chinese history.

Part myth, part reality, The Three Kingdoms is considered the most significant work in classic Chinese literature. Many Chinese people view it not only as a work of art but also as a moral guide to success in life and business. Foreigners often read it to gain insights into Chinese society and culture. From the saga of The Three Kingdoms, readers will learn how great warriors motivated their troops and enhanced their influence while disguising their weaknesses and turning the strengths of others against them. Complete with footnotes and a detailed character list, this readable new edition is sure to thrill today's readers from all over the world.

As the first volume in a trilogy, The Three Kingdoms: The Sacred Oath introduces Liu Bei and his brothers-in-arms Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, whose allegiance is sorely tested in a society in which each group is fighting for its own survival.

Print length

416 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Tuttle Publishing
Publication date

May 20, 2014
Dimensions

5.13 x 1.1 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0804843937
ISBN-13

978-0804843935
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Three Kingdoms is considered the ultimate book on strategy, offering keen insights into Chinese culture. Ron Iverson's effort is a great contribution to the understanding of Chinese culture and history." --Xinmin Wang, former Consul for Cultural Affairs for the PRC and advisor to the President of China

"This translation faithfully conveys a native Chinese-speaking person's understanding of this most influential and famous Chinese book. To translate this Chinese classic into modern English is a challenging and difficult job for any language translator. However, this joint effort by Yu Sumei and Ronald Iverson has met the challenge." --Hua Xin, former advisor and translator for IBM China

"One of the greatest and best-loved works of popular literature." --Dictionary of Oriental Literatures

About the Author

Ron Iverson first visited China in 1984 as the personal representative of the Mayor of Chicago as part of a Sister Cities program. For the past 30 years, he has continued to visit China regularly and has founded joint business ventures with Chinese partners and taught Business Strategy at Tongji University in Shanghai. He also personally arranged the first ever exhibition of Forbidden City artifacts from the Palace Museum in Beijing to tour the US. Early in his visits to China, Iverson discovered The Three Kingdoms and came to realize the enormous cultural significance the Chinese people place in the book. Believing that one needed to be familiar with the principles revealed in the book in order to find business or political success in China, and being dissatisfied with existing translations, Iverson decided to fund and edit a new translation aimed towards delivering the thrill of a contemporary novel while imparting understanding of a key aspect of Chinese culture.

Yu Sumei is a professor of English at East China Normal University. She has translated several English language books into Chinese and is the first native Chinese speaker to translate The Three Kingdoms into English. She invested a total of two years into working on this new translation of The Three Kingdoms, spending the time on sabbatical in New York with her daughter, who typed the translation out as she completed it.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tuttle Publishing; 1st edition (May 20, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0804843937
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0804843935
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.13 x 1.1 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #271,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #93 in Chinese Literature
- #3,907 in Mythology & Folk Tales (Books)
- #3,912 in Short Stories Anthologies

Customer Reviews:
181 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		72%
4 star		18%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		3%

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W. Bevins

This is the translation I've been waiting for

Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2020

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I've read other translations of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," and love the characters and story. This translation is vibrant and lively, and my favorite by a country mile. The translator and editor deserve an award for making every page carry weight, as some of the subplots are so intricate that in other translations they have felt cumbersome.

If you're on this page, you probably already know that this is one of the greatest epics in world literature, so I won't try and sell it to you. I'll just add that this is the first good translation I've found that uses Pinyin instead of Wade–Giles, and the difference was day and night. I could actually pronounce and remember the names of characters and places, since I orginally learned the Pinyin for them and it was frustrating to constantly cross-reference the older transliterations for the names of a cast of hundreds.

12 people found this helpful

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King of the Swing

This edition is a must for any classical literature enthusiast

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2019

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If you are going to start reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms then you should start with this book series. This edition is more coherent and well put together with footnotes at the bottom and end of each chapter. There is a character list in the beginning with brief descriptions. The names and places are spelled/pronounced more accurately. This series is a MUST for any fan of classical literature.

15 people found this helpful

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.Wonderful Story

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2017

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This is a wonderful historical novel of the three Kingdom period (end of the Han Empire) in Chinese history. Among many things I liked about the book, is that it detailed not only individual actions (fighting) of key figures but also went into the rationale of their planning and strategy -- and since many characters are mentioned in the story not all of the strategy had a good ending. I especially liked they way the story ended each chapter, section with a prelude to what would happen next. Perhaps this is due to the way the story was originally written almost serialized. I found the story relatively easy to read and hard to put down. If the reader is unfamiliar with Chinese geography,following along on a map might be useful, but then this might not be needed as one could just flow with the story. I have not read any other translations of this classic so I cannot compare to other translations. But I did enjoy this one and will start Vol 2 shortly I highly recommend this story. The ebook version was very good and the footnotes were easy to access.

14 people found this helpful

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H.Y.

Great read even for a novice to eastern literature

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2016

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I can't say I'm well versed in the many different translations of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, as this is the first time I'm reading the story. However, despite how old the narrative is, I find it interesting with a lot of politics and the prominent characters always looking to maneuver with and against each other. As unexpected events come up with stability in the land always teetering on the edge, alliances and rivalries can also take drastic turns. I sometimes do have to check back on the character list because of the sheer number of named characters that show up in the story, but it's not hard to follow overall.

25 people found this helpful

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Sontino Trigilio

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2018

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Best translation that I have of the series. I have 4 different ones. Very happy with this book.

12 people found this helpful

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Johnson

Very interesting and well edited

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2019

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This version of the romance of the three kingdoms is very good. I have read the other versions which were great too.. but this version is very readable and easy to follow.

This work by the translator and editor is truly admirable and noteworthy.

Finally.. it is complete and unabridged.

Cheers ..a truly enjoyable and enlightening experience

4 people found this helpful

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Edith Bond

I would love to use this with my students! Interesting and exciting view of Chinese history and culture.

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2015

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As a teacher for many years I was pleased to find so many literary treasures in Three Kingdoms. A basis of the story is the chance meeting together of the three heroes Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. This happening reminds me that we come onto many good things in life by chance rather than plan. They made a sacred oath of brotherhood. Their loyalty to one another was a joy to read. Their loyalty was tested many times but it endured even in times of great challenge. Their personalities were all quite different from one another however those differences became the strength of their joining together. We all enjoy being individuals and treated as individuals but we all end up belonging to a group whether it is a formal group of some kind or a social alliance.
I enjoyed reading about Cao Cao, the nemesis of the three heroes. Cao Cao is a powerful and cunning military leader. We learn that he had his own weaknesses and doubts. The question came to mind many times; what does one do when one has doubts and is afraid of making the wrong choice? He does what we all usually do; we seek out a friend with whom to discuss the situation. We are looking for clarity and some good advice. This is exactly what Cao Cao did and it worked to his advantage.

16 people found this helpful

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Gabriel

The best of 三国演义

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2021

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An excellent translation of this classic. I highly recommend this version as it is wonderfully written without trying to sum up things

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Colin H

A fascinating insight into the nature of power

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2017

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(NOTE: This is a review for all three volumes of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms)

I had been aware of this epic of Chinese literature for many years, but first developed a serious interest in reading it after having watched the excellent Chinese drama adaptation made in 2010. That gave me the impetus to pick up the first volume and give it a go.

Some words of caution first, from one who has now read all three volumes. This is a book that very much requires you to juggle hundreds of names in your head and keep track of who is who. Indeed, I would strongly recommend watching that aforementioned TV series prior to reading the books. This may sound the wrong way around, but having made my way through all 1,377 pages, it would have been considerably harder without some pre-knowledge of key characters to anchor my progress. Having some understanding, for example, that a Lu Su matters where a Lu Xun does not, certainly makes getting through the book a mite less daunting.

Another warning for those considering embarking on the Three Kingdoms: if you are not interested in military strategy and take no pleasure in reading about the minutiae of war, you should probably turn away. A significant percentage of the book is spent on detailing battles: many, many battles, often in quick succession. While war itself is not the core of what the Three Kingdoms is about, it is nevertheless the medium through which many of the story's messages are related.

This is a fictionalised account of a very real historic period in Chinese history. After the fall of the Han dynasty in 220 AD, the country fell into a state of civil war, as rival warlords fought one another for superiority - each claiming to be the rightful successor to Han. Gradually power consolidated around three separate kingdoms: Wei in the North, Wu in the South and Shu in the West. Each was led by its own charismatic leader - Cao Cao, Sun Quan and Liu Bei respectively. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms tells their story, how they rose to power, what they did with that power and how each, ultimately, fell. It is truly epic in its scale, and widely recognised in China as one of the greatest books ever written.

For me, this book is about much more than just a historic narrative. Still less is it a book merely about military tactics - although they certainly feature prominently throughout. Rather, the Three Kingdoms represents an insightful, penetrating look at power - how it can be won, how it can be maintained and how it can be lost. Each of the three rulers demonstrates different virtues and flaws, and is aided by a wide variety of generals and advisers, each with their own agendas. The ruthlessness of Cao Cao is tempered by his intellectual brilliance and his ability to exercise power without ever openly admitting to it. The virtue of Liu Bei, meanwhile, is undone by his inability to win his own battles and by his undying loyalty to those who do not always serve him best. The astuteness of Sun Quan is highlighted by the way in which he employs people best suited to the role, implicitly acknowledging his own shortcomings. Each ruler has a coterie of advisers, and the relationship between power and those who would shape and direct that power is fascinating. Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi both stand out as impressive figures in their own right, often outshining the men they exist to serve. Their interplay, in particular, is a highlight of the book. And it would be remiss of me not to mention Liu Bei's two brothers-in-arms: Zhang Fei, the oft-drunk and irascible warrior and Guan Yu, the legendary fighter who keeps his honour to his very last breath.

Another lesson the Three Kingdoms teaches is that for all the struggles and grand designs, winning or losing may very often lie in the lap of the gods. A rainstorm at the wrong moment or a change in the direction of the wind can make all the difference. Illnesses strike down otherwise undefeated veterans, just as ultimately the collapse of the three kingdoms ends up owing more to the dissipation and idleness of the rulers' successors than to any great military victory. Power is ephemeral, and it cannot ever be taken for granted.

There are so many stories and sub-plots woven into the fabric of the Three Kingdoms that it would be both infeasible and futile to assess them all here. The best I can say of this book is that it is a joy to read and its many pages a wonderful place within which to lose yourself. It is long, and there will be times when you may wonder if the battles will ever end with one siding achieving anything close to a significant victory; but stick with it and you will be rewarded.

12 people found this helpful

S. Naomi Scott

Cracking good stuff

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 6, 2021

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I'm not really qualified to offer an in-depth review of this book or speak to the quality of the translation, other than to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, and found it remarkably readable. There's a lot going on, and a massive cast of characters to keep track of, but for all that it's not as impenetrable as you might expect. Cracking good stuff.

One person found this helpful

Choosysteven777

Definitely recommend

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 8, 2020

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After playing totalwar three kingdoms and starting to love the story of the game i thought about buying the books to learn more and i am so happy i did the first volume is amazing i cant wait to get the other volumes

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Came in perfect condition, is a good read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2015

Verified Purchase

Came in perfect condition, is a good read, nice translation with some notes but not too much to weigh you down in technicalities. It's nice to have the same names as in the Three Kindgoms games.

The date of delivery had passed the expected time frame given by amazon. This was just UK - Czech Republic, so not far away at all.

2 people found this helpful

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Toll

Reviewed in Germany on April 12, 2022

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Eines der besten Werke, wenn man sich für chinesische Literatur begeistert

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