Sanguo - Books, Culture, Podcasts, and Revolution

About the Sanguo Yanyi Audiobook

By the Romance of the Three Kingdoms on Amazon

I have long been fascinated with the almost two millenia-old Chinese epic, the Sanguo Yanyi, or "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" as it has been called here in the west. The book, written by various authors contributing to it throughout the centuries, is truly one of the finest examples of epic storytelling in the history of the world. I tend to refer to it, sometimes, when I'm describing the story to people, as "The Chinese Illiad". The term might be a tad bit imprecise, since the Illiad only covers, what, ten years or so? Whereas, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms covers 90+ years of Chinese history. Some time back, I got a bug up my ass or something, and decided to go out and find audiobook versions of all my favorite books. I have been very successful for the most part, but there were some glaring omissions that I could not countenance. For one thing, I've not yet been able to score an audio copy of "The Aeneid" by Virgil. And from all the information I've thus far been able to gather, there is no audiobook adaptation of the Three Kingdoms saga. (Perhaps this might have something to do with the fact that the story is 120 chapters long!) To say that I was a bit indignant to discover that no one had ever made an audiobook version of one of the best-selling books of all time, one of the greatest STORIES of all time would be a bit of an understatement. I looked and looked and looked for months to see if I could track down an audio copy, and found none. So I decided that I would make one myself.

By the way, I just want to say right here and now: I do not speak any of the Chinese dialects, so if I happen to mispronounce anything, my apologies, but I do the best I can. :p I realize that this is a project which will probably consume my entire lifetime. The book is, as I have said before, quite a long one. But I am resolved to finish this project, if it takes me forever, and when I'm done, the world will have this fine, fine story of loyalty, brotherhood, ambition, and betrayal in audiobook form! This version is adapted from the online version published by the good folks at Threekingdoms.com, featuring a musical score taken from the many Romance of the Three Kingdoms video games put out by Koei over the years. The music is courtesy of Kongming.net. If you're as much of a fan of the Three Kingdoms as I am, you'll have to check that one out! I have put a lot of work into this so far, and it's not going to stop, so I hope that each and every one of you enjoy this.

Entries in Sun Jian (3)

Wednesday

Sep022009

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 6

Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 9:27PM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 6:

Burning The Capital, Dong Zhuo Commits An Atrocity;

Hiding The Imperial Hereditary Seal, Sun Jian Breaks Faith.

Listen:

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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

In this day and age, we tend to use the word "terrorism" a bit loosely. But Dong Zhuo was a man who knew exactly what real terrorism was, and how absolute power could get a man exactly what he wanted.

The death toll inflicted during the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941 by the Japanese Air Force numbered somewhere around 2350. The attacks of September 11, 2001 produced around 1500 confirmed victims. The removal of the Han capitol (and capital) from Luoyang to Chang'an by Dong Zhuo dwarfs those figures.

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D.J. Raspe |

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 5

Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 8:17PM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 5:

Cao Cao Appeals To The Powerful Lords;

The Three Brothers Fight Against Lu Bu.

Listen:

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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Ah...the much vaunted Chapter 5, or, as I call it, "The Coalition Against Dong Zhuo". If you've played the video games based on this novel, chances are, you might recognize this part of the story quite well. In the earlier entries of the series, this part of the plotline usually opens up the first scenario. In the later installments, it's usually like 2nd or 3rd scenario.

But I digress again. You really shouldn't let me do that, you know. ;)

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D.J. Raspe |

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tagged

Bao Xin,

Cao Cao,

Coalition Against Dong Zhuo,

Lu Bu,

Yuan Shu in

Wednesday

Sep022009

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 2

Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 6:57PM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 2:

Zhang Fei whips the Government Officer;

He Jin Plots to Kill the Eunuchs.

Listen:

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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

In this, the second chapter of the mighty Sanguo Yanyi, Zhang Fei once again displays that trademark temper of his. He may be a mighty warrior (one of the mightiest in Chinese history), and absolutely loyal, but he has some anger-management issues, and in the opening lines of this chapter, those anger-management issues would very well have led to the early demise of Dong Zhuo, the primary villain of the early chapters, if not for the intervention of Zhang Fei's two sworn brothers, Liu Bei and Guan Yu. Think how many lives would have been saved if Zhang Fei were allowed to take that fat, disgusting sleazebucket out. Dong Zhuo was kinda like the Chinese Hitler, wiping out large numbers of people with impunity. Think about this: a census taken in the late Han (early story) claims a total population in the Empire of 50 million. A census taken 90 or so years later, after the Sanguo period came to an end and the land was reunified under the Jin Dynasty, claimed a total population of like 16 million. That means that some 34 million people either died or migrated out of the country during the chaos of the Three Kingdoms period. How many of those deaths could Zhang Fei have averted by offing Dong Zhuo? I guess the world will never know...

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D.J. Raspe |