The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 1
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 6:29PM The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 1:
Three Heroes Swear Brotherhood In The Peach Garden;
One Victory Shatters The Rebels On the Battleground.
Listen:
Download Episode (Click this link. It will bring up a page with an audio player loaded with the file. Right click your mouse and "save as" to download episode.)
In this, the first chapter of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the story opens in the final years of the Han Dynasty, the greatest dynasty in the history of the Middle Kingdom. For four hundred years, the Han have ruled in China, and the impact of the Han socio-political system would come to have long-ranging effects on the history and development of east Asia in general throughout successive centuries.
However, even the greatest empires are destined to fall. The novel opens up with the line "The World under Heaven, after a long period of division, tends to unite; after a long period of union, tends to divide. This has been so since antiquity." This sets the stage for the story, which, at its core, is a story of the disunity accompanying the fall of an empire, and the abilities of great Heroes to deal with that disunity.
Seriously weakened by repeated rebellions and corruption at the very highest levels of the Imperial government, the Han Dynasty is in trouble, and already many across the land are able to see that the days of the Royal House of Liu are numbered. Amidst this already volatile scenario, three brothers of the Zhang Family in northern China rise to lead a rebellion against the State. The Yellow Turban Rebellion would prove to be the beginning of the end for the Han (kinda like the Chinese version of the Clone Wars).
There are many great heroes in the land. Some already enjoy positions of power. Some, however, are just beginning on their path to greatness. Among them, the three great heroes who would go on to found Empires to succeed the failing Han Dynasty: Cao Cao, a man of Beijuo whose ambition is only matched by his cunning; Liu Bei, a scion of the Imperial Family whose particular branch of the family has fallen upon hard times, and yet whose great virtue draws great men to flock to his banner; and Sun Jian, descendant of the great strategist, Sun Tzu, whose family gains control of the fertile lands of the South.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion serves as a crucible for these mighty heroes, burning away their naievete, and forging them into great heroes of the land, making their names famous, which allows them to establish Imperial bids of their own later on...
Reader Comments (12)
ooooooooh yes! thank you so much!
Hey derek,
Just began listening. That story is fascinating! The story of the Yellow Turban rebellion is really cool. Keep up the good work.
Thanks man. I put a lot of work into these, and it's good to know people are enjoying them!
Yeah dude, I have to concur with Doc - still at the beginning of this saga, but it's totally engrossing. Thanks for posting this stuff, dude.
It had better be. It's a story that's been written over the course of almost two thousand years. :p
And you're welcome.
Just wanna say thanks you've got a great voice for audio just wish you hadn't added the background music its ok music but i'd rather hear just your voice
Dude Iv been looking everywhere for these audio books thank you SO MUCH!!! your awsome
Thank you all very much. One does one's best. Or attempts to, at any rate...
Dear Mr Derek
I congratulate for your hard work. I would like to know if there is any possibility for me to download the episodes so I shall be able to listen to三國的浪漫 while driving.
Regards
Dumb question: but can i download this instead of streaming it via the audio? i have terribly unstable net and when i lose connection i have to find the excact moment over again as the player autocancels the whole thing upon connection loss.
Yup, you can download it. Here's how:
When you click the episode link to play it/stream it, it will take you to a page with an audio player on it. When you're on that page, simply right click on your mouse (unless your mouse is set up for left handed use, in which case you would left click instead) and on the menu that comes up when you do so, select "Save As".
Voila! You can download anything on the site that is available for download that way. Enjoy! :)