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 Xu Huang (3)

Monday

Jun252012

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 58

Monday, June 25, 2012 at 2:38AM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 58:

Ma Chao Launches An Expedition For Revenge;

Cao Cao Flees The Field In Disguise.

Listen:

WARNING: TYPING IN CAPS CAN OFTEN LEAD TO PEOPLE THINKING YOU'RE SHOUTING AT THEM. AND THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY.

Annnnnnd, it's Chapter 58 already. Bet you weren't expecting TWO audiobook episodes in one night, were you? Oh, you were? Well....ummmm....hmmmmmm....guess that wasn't as big a surprise as I meant it to be then. :p

At any rate, we've reached Chapter 58. Ma Teng is dead, slain by the soldiers of Cao Cao, and Ma Dai, nephew of Ma Teng, has escaped from the capitol, carrying back to Ma Chao the tale of Ma Teng's ending. Filial Piety was a cardinal virtue in the people of the Han, and Ma Chao was, as could be quite expected, not quite happy with Cao Cao for the murder of his father.

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D.J. Raspe |

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tagged

Cao Cao,

Cao Hong,

Han Sui,

Ma Chao,

Pang De,

Romance of the Three Kingdoms,

The Battle of Tong Gate,

The Girdle Decree,

The Revenge of Ma Chao,

Xu Zhu in

Thursday

Sep032009

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 14

Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 7:01PM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 14:

Cao Cao Moves The Court To Xuchang;

Lu Bu Leads A Night Raid Against Xuzhou.

Listen:

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WARNING: MUCH LIKE A SACK OF ORANGES, SOME OF WHICH ARE ROTTEN, WE GOTS SOME SPOILERS ALL UP IN THIS BEEYATCH!

You know, ^^^^ Those are getting a bit trickier to write every time.

Anyways, we've made it to Chapter 14. Cao Cao is King Shit right now. Li Jue and Guo Si got over their beef with each other, got a room, then after they were done, they decided to chase down and...get this...KILL the Emperor. But Cao Cao had this little army that he had obtained from stomping the Yellow Turbans of Qing Province into the mud. (Did I ever mention that he also at the same time obtained a big, bristly mustached man-tiger, name of Xu Zhu [or Xu Chu. I'm not quite sure which.])

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D.J. Raspe |

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 13

Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 6:46PM

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 13:

Li Jue and Guo Si Duel In Changan;

The Emperor Establishes Anyi The New Capital.

Listen:

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WARNING: IF YOU ARE EVER IN A RIOT SITUATION, DON'T DO WHAT I DID...

In chapter 13, Lu Bu, smarting from a recent asswhuppin' from Cao Cao, flees to Xuzhou, now under the governance of Liu Bei. I know what you're thinking. "OH MY GAWD! Lu Bu and Liu Bei together! Like, on the same team?!" Yes. I know, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei were just fighting with the guy a few chapters ago. But apparently, ancient chinese nobles, much like modern professional wrestling fans, and for that matter, the American electorate, don't seem to have much of a memory. So the answer is, yes. For the time being, at least, Liu Bei and Lu Bu are on the same team.

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D.J. Raspe |