People
Chu Faction
Lü Bu: warlord of the Three Kingdoms. He was originally a subordinate of a minor warlord called Ding Yuan, whom he betrayed and murdered upon his defection to Dong Zhuo; later he also betrayed and murdered Dong Zhuo. Although described as an exceptionally mighty warrior, he was also notorious for unstable behaviour — he switched allegiances at the drop of a hat, was always suspicious of others, and could not control his subordinates. Apart from his martial valour, is perhaps most famous for his part in the fictional honey trap plan involving Diaochan.
Xiang Yu: the vaunted Hegemon-King of Western Chu who ruled a vast area covering central & eastern China with Pengcheng as his capital. Engaged in a power struggle with Liu Bang (the Chu-Han Contention) which culminated in his defeat at the Battle of Gaixia and his suicide there. Contemporaries considered him a leader with great courage but lacking wisdom, who had great successes on the battlefield only matched by great blunders in political fields;1Lü Bu and Xiang Yu’s relationship in Unparalleled Conqueror could probably be called Dumb x Dumber this view has largely persisted, with modern historians drawing parallels between Xiang Yu’s military brilliance and that of Hannibal and Shaka Zulu. His classic image is that of a heroic yet arrogant and bloodthirsty warrior-king, while his romance with his wife Consort Yu and his suicide turn him towards more of a tragic hero. His title 西楚霸王 is made of two parts: 西楚, meaning Western Chu; and 霸王, which has been variously translated as Hegemon-King, Overlord, Conqueror, King of Kings, etc. The term 霸王 (ba wang) has come to be used specifically to refer to Xiang Yu in popular culture.
Fan Zeng: an advisor to Xiang Liang, then to Xiang Yu when the former died. Xiang Yu respectfully addressed him as his ‘Second Father’ (亞父, yafu). Fan Zeng formulated many strategies for Xiang Yu, but these were rarely heeded. After Xiang Yu’s death, Liu Bang remarked that it was a pity that Xiang had a capable Fan Zeng to help him, but he did not use him well.
Han Xin: a military general and politician who serves Xiang Yu; in our history, he defected to Liu Bang and became part of the ‘Three Heroes of the early Han dynasty’ along with Zhang Liang and Xiao He. He’s renowned as a brilliant strategist in warfare, undefeated in battle, and for his accomplishments he’s considered the ‘God of War’. He was the Han commander for the Battle of Gaixia, where Xiang Yu was finally defeated and took his own life. Han Xin died in 196 BC, executed for alleged treason (more detail below in Xiao He’s section).
Xiang Bo: a noble of the Chu state, uncle to Xiang Yu. Best known for preventing another nephew, Xiang Zhuang, from assassinating Liu Bang at the Hongmen Banquet in 206 BC. He was friends with Zhang Liang and, hearing that he was on Liu Bang’s side and fearing for his life, Xiang Bo informed them of Xiang Yu’s plans. Liu Bang treated him with respect and arranged a marriage between his daughter and Xiang Bo’s son; Xiang Bo was touched and promised to help Liu Bang. During the banquet, Xiang Zhuang was called to perform a sword dance with the intention to assassinate Liu Bang, however Xiang Bo intervened by offering to join the performance and he blocked Xiang Zhuang whenever he thrust his sword towards Liu Bang. Afterwards, he continuously tried to reconcile the two warring factions. After the Han dynasty was established, Xiang Bo was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Yeyang, granted the imperial family name ‘Liu’, and given land.
King of Chu: personal name Xiong Xin, also known as King Huai II of Chu. He was the grandson of King Huai of Chu, who died in Qin captivity. When the Chu state was revived as an insurgent state against Qin imperial rule, Xiong Xin and his bloodline was discovered by Xiang Yu’s uncle Xiang Liang, and he was installed on the Chu throne as a puppet king. After the Qin dynasty was officially overthrown by rebels, Xiang Yu — the de facto leader of the rebel forces — divided the former Qin Empire into 18 kingdoms and promoted King Huai II to the more honourable title of Emperor Yi of Chu, making him the nominal sovreign ruler of all the Eighteen Kingdoms. Emperor Yi was then ordered to relocate to Chen County, while at the same time Xiang Yu secretly ordered Ying Bu to assassinate the emperor during the journey. His death was used as political propaganda by Liu Bang to justify his war against Xiang Yu.
Zhang Han: a military general of the Qin dynasty who surrendered to Xiang Yu at the Battle of Julu. Two years before the Battle of Julu, the rebel army had reached the Qin capital Xianyang; when the second Qin empror discussed with his subjects how to counter them, Zhang Han suggested granting amnesty to some convicts serving as labourers at the first Qin emperor’s mausoleum and organising them into an army to deal with the rebels. The emperor approved and put him in charge. Zhang Han then emerged victorious, driving the rebel army out of Guanzhong and continuously advancing eastward without defeat (including killing Xiang Yu’s uncle, Xiang Liang) until the Battle of Julu.
Han Faction
Liu Bang: founding emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning 202-195 BC; commonly referred to as Gaozu of Han, meaning ‘high ancestor of Han’. Prior to coming to power, he served the Qin dynasty as a minor law enforcement officer in Pei County, and after a series of unfortunate events he became an anti-Qin rebel leader, won the race against Xiang Yu to reach Guanzhong, forced Ying Ziying to surrender, was given the poor & remote Bashu region to rule as ‘King of Han’, then started a civil war. Nowadays he’s known for strong leadership, effective measures which stabilised society, and being an emperor who contributed a lot to the Han dynasty’s subsequent prosperity. He’s also recorded as having a ‘pillow companion’ (read: personal servant, potentially a homosexual lover) named Ji Ru who was said to have greater access to him than his ministers, and nine other Han emperors would follow his example of officially elevating a male lover to the top of the administrative pyramid.
Zhang Liang: military strategist and politician serving Liu Bang, known as one of the ‘Three Heroes of the early Han dynasty’ along with Han Xin and Xiao He. Liu Bang trusted him deeply and his plans were instrumental in establishing the Han dynasty, and he remained as a key advisor even afterwards.
Xiao He: a politician serving Liu Bang, known as one of the ‘Three Heroes of the early Han dynasty’ along with Han Xin and Zhang Liang. After the founding of the Han dynasty, he became the chancellor and held this office until his death. Xiao He met Han Xin soon after the latter’s defection to Liu Bang and recognised his brilliance in military strategy; when Han Xin left because he felt that his talent would go to waste in Liu Bang’s hands, Xiao He chased after him and persuaded him to return. When Liu Bang asked why he chose Han Xin out of all people to bring back, he strongly recommended Han Xin, saying that his talent was unmatched, and as a result Liu Bang appointed Han Xin as a general.
Interestingly, Xiao He was also involved in Han Xin’s death. In 196 BC, while Liu Bang was away on campaign, one of Han Xin’s servants reported to the empress that he was plotting an uprising. The empress then recruited Xiao He to lure Han Xin into a trap. Using the pretext of a victory feast, they persuaded Han Xin to go to the palace, where he was immediately arrested and executed for treason. And basically ever since then, there has been intense debate on whether Han Xin actually planned to rebel. The above was recorded by Sima Qian, a citizen of the Han dynasty, so some believe that he could not go against the government mandated official version of events.
Three Kingdoms
Liu Bei: warlord during Three Kingdoms and founding emperor of Shu, one of the said three kingdoms. Most famous for selling shoes and straw mats for a living when young, becoming sworn brothers with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei with an oath at a peach garden, and personally visiting Zhuge Liang three times to invite him to be his advisor. He’s a major figure in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which helped improve his reputation as a rags to riches story, though opinions of modern historians are more negative, considering him to be overrated.
Chen Gong: advisor to Lü Bu during the Three Kingdoms period, also executed at White Gate Tower. He had started his career under Cao Cao before defecting to Lü Bu. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, his moral righteousness was emphasised, possibly to act as a foil to Cao Cao (unscrupulous) and Lü Bu (incompetent).
Gao Shun: noted military officer serving Lü Bu during the Three Kingdoms period, also executed at White Gate Tower. Although he only had 700 men under his command, his unit was nicknamed ‘formation breaker’ for its destructive charges, and they were a well-equipped, well-trained, disciplined elite force. Known to be stern and incorrupt, with an air of authority and of few words.
Dong Zhuo: a warlord of the Three Kingdoms period. As the Han dynasty declined, Dong Zhuo seized control of the imperial capital Luoyang, deposed the emperor, and replaced him with his half-brother. His rule was brief but characterised by cruelty. Only a year later, a coalition of regional officials and warlords launched a campaign against him. When he failed to stamp them out, Dong Zhuo sacked Luoyang and relocated to Chang’an. He was assassinated soon after by Lü Bu. Romance of the Three Kingdoms could do little to make him more cruel than history already describes, but it did add a fictional love triangle between Dong Zhuo, Lü Bu, and Diaochan (see below in Events).
Red Hare: yes, as in Lü Bu’s horse. Red Hare can almost be called a character in their own right, it’s that famous. Contemporaries had a saying: “Among men, Lü Bu; among steeds, Red Hare.” Historical records describe it as a very powerful steed, capable of “galloping across cities and leaping over moats”. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms dramatizes things, in that Red Hare originally belonged to Dong Zhuo and he gifted it to Lü Bu in order to induce him to betray Ding Yuan, which succeeds. After Lü Bu’s death at the Battle of Xiapi, Red Hare falls to Cao Cao’s possession, who gives it to Guan Yu in an attempt to influence him to betray Liu Bei, which fails. After Guan Yu’s death, Ma Zhong presents it to his lord Sun Quan, who immediately gifts the horse back to Ma Zhong; Red Hare starves itself for days and dies.
Others
Ying Ziying: the third and last emperor of the Qin dynasty, with a reign of just 46 days. There’s no consensus on his exact relationship to the Qin royal family; contradicting historical records place him as the elder brother of the second emperor of the Qin dynasty, the son of said second emperor’s elder brother, the younger brother of the first emperor, and the son of a younger brother of the first emperor (generally regarded as the most likely theory). In any case, upon the second Qin emperor’s death, the imperial chancellor chose Ying Ziying as the successor.
Places
Hangu Pass: a pass separating the upper Yellow River and Wei River valleys — which includes Guanzhong and thus the Qin capital — from the North China Plain. As a chokepoint, it was the site of many battles during the Warring States Period and early imperial eras. The archaeological site was recognised by UNESCO as part of a World Heritage Site in 2014.
White Gate Tower: the south gate of Xiapi City, so named because it was built with white bricks. The site of Lü Bu’s capture and execution, and otherwise unexceptional.
Ba County & Shu County: a region located in the Sichuan basin, separated from the Central Plain by mountain ranges. The map below shows the significant mountains surrounding it better than the one above.
Xianyang: capital of the Qin dynasty, now a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province and integrated into the Xi’an metropolitan area. It was located on the northern bank of the Wei River, on the opposite side of which Chang’an would be built.
Chang’an: established by Liu Bang as capital of the Western Han dynasty until the Eastern Han dynasty, which used Luoyang as its capital instead. Then Dong Zhuo relocated the capital back in 190 AD, as it was at a more strategic location. Located 3 km northwest of modern Xi’an’s city center. It has been given a variety of names through the years, with its modern name Xi’an coming into use during the Ming dynasty in 1369 AD.
Pengcheng: capital of the Chu state before it was conquered by Qin, now present-day Xuzhou. After the Chu-Han Contention ended in Liu Bang’s victory, the core Chu regions were made into a commandery with Pengcheng as its capital. By the time of the Three Kingdoms, the commandery’s capital was moved to Xiapi (present-day Pizhou), around 80 km to the east.
Events
Lü Bu‘s death: In 199, Lü Bu holed up in Xiapi which soon came under siege from Cao Cao’s forces. Three of his generals — including his brother-in-law — betrayed him to Cao Cao, and when he heard about the defection, Lü Bu asked his men to kill him and bring his head to Cao Cao, but they refused, after which he surrendered. Lü Bu attempted to persuade Cao Cao to spare him and promised to serve under him, but Liu Bei reminded him of what happened to Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo, so Lü Bu was executed, as were his subordinates Chen Gong and Gao Shun.
Hongmen Banquet: also known as the Feast at Swan Goose Gate, Banquet at Hongmen, Hongmen Feast, and others. It is one of the highlights of the power struggle between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu as an inciting incident of the Chu-Han Contention, and took place in 206 BC outside Xianyang, the Qin capital. Culturally, the term ‘Hongmen Banquet’ is used to refer to a trap or other situation ostensibly joyous but in fact treacherous.
Beforehand, a defector from Liu Bang’s side secretly informed Xiang Yu that Liu Bang intended to declare himself King of Guanzhong with Ying Ziying as his chancellor. Xiang Yu was furious and planned to attach Liu Bang, but Xiang Bo persuaded him that Liu Bang had no ill intentions and that Liu Bang was willing to submit to Xiang Yu. During the banquet itself, Fan Zeng hinted many times for Xiang Yu to kill Liu Bang, but Xiang Yu ignored him. Fan Zeng then sent for Xiang Zhuang to perform a sword dance with the intention of assassinating Liu Bang, but Xiang Bo continuously blocked him from doing so. At some point, Liu Bang said he needed to use the latrine so he left the banquet, then used the chance to escape. Meanwhile, Zhang Liang presented gifts to Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng while apologising on Liu Bang’s behalf for leaving without bidding farewell; Xiang Yu accepted them but Fan Zeng threw his gifts to the ground, predicting that Liu Bang would take the empire away from Xiang Yu one day. And he did.
Battle of Hulao Pass: a fictional battle where a coalition led by Yuan Shao clashed with Dong Zhuo’s elite armies. Hulao Pass itself is a choke point leading to Luoyang, the capital of the Han dynasty (and others). There is no historical record of any kind of conflict taking place there during the relevant time.
Lü Bu commanded Dong Zhuo’s vanguard of 30,000 men to defend the fortified pass. Half the coalition’s forces go out to engage — a general volunteers to duel Lü Bu, but is killed in less than five rounds, and the coalition forces withdraw and set up camp 10 miles away. The remaining coalition warlords arrive, Lü Bu’s men array themselves outside the coalition camp, and they clash again. A coalition general charges Lü Bu but is immediately killed. Another coalition general challenges Lü Bu and gets his hand chopped off for his trouble. Next a warlord challenges Lü Bu, but he too is forced to retreat. Lü Bu chases him, but is distracted when Zhang Fei taunts him; the two battle for 50 rounds with no clear winner, then Guan Yu joins to assist Zhang Fei, then 30 bouts later Liu Bei also joins the fray. The three sworn brothers encircle Lü Bu and take turns to attack from different directions, Lü Bu is unable to defeat them so he feints and escapes back to Hulao Pass with the three in hot pursuit but Red Hare is too fast for them to catch up. The coalition warlords declare that the battle is won.
Dong Zhuo, Lü Bu, and Diaochan: perhaps one of the most famous honey traps in Chinese cultural memory, and entirely fictional. After the capital was moved to Chang’an, Interior Minister Wang Yun began to plot Dong Zhuo’s assassination by using Diaochan, a singer brought up in his household but whom he treated like a daughter, to sow dissent between Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu. He invited Lü Bu to his house one night whereupon he asked Diaochan to serve wine; Lü Bu was immediately enthralled by the girl’s beauty and Wang Yun then promised to marry Diaochan to him. However, a few days later, Wang Yun hosted a feast for Dong Zhuo and repeated his actions; Dong Zhuo similarly couldn’t take his eyes off Diaochan, and he then brought Diaochan away and made her his concubine.
One day, while Dong Zhuo was away, Lü Bu sneaked in to his residence and met with Diaochan. Diaochan wept and pleaded with Lü Bu to rescue her from Dong Zhuo, and he comforted her. Just at this moment, Dong Zhuo returned and saw them together. Lü Bu turned to flee and Dong Zhuo chased, but he was too slow and Lü Bu was too agile. Their relationship further deteriorated after this incident, pushed along by Wang Yun’s instigation. Wang Yun subtly suggested that Lü Bu should kill Dong Zhuo, and he was eventually persuaded.
Battle of Chang’an: also known as the Sack of Chang’an, taking place in June 192 AD. After Dong Zhuo’s death, Wang Yun took control of the government as regent. Dong Zhuo’s loyalists Li Jue, Guo Si, and others, requested amnesty for their past actions but were refused, so they decided to storm the capital to seize control and save themselves. At the Battle of Chang’an, they drove Lü Bu away from Chang’an, killed many officials and civilians, and captured Wang Yun, who was executed a few days later. The city would be further damaged as Li Jue and Guo Si fought each other for control of the government, until the emperor managed to escape in 195. Lü Bu’s stay in Chang’an’s seat of power had lasted only 37 days.
Shooting the halberd at Yuanmen: a fictional event from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In 197 AD, Yuan Shu wanted to attack Liu Bei, so he bribed Lü Bu to keep him happy while he sent his general Ji Ling to lead an army against Liu Bei. Liu Bei’s forces were too few so he begged Lü Bu for help. Lü Bu decided that having Liu Bei as a neighbour was better than Yuan Shu, so he agreed. Lü Bu invited Liu Bei and Ji Ling to a meeting, where he set a bet: he would plant his trident halberd, Sky Piercer, 150 paces away; if he could hit the left branch of the halberd-head with an arrow, they would both withdraw their armies; if he missed, they could go and prepare for battle. Ji Ling thought it was an impossible shot, so he agreed to the wager. Of course, Lü Bu succeeded — the arrowhead struck the halberd straight on. For a translation of the relevant Romance chapter, see kongming.net.
Misc
Chinese units of measurement: length
Note that Hong Kong and Taiwan use different definitions.
Traditional Chinese units of measurement are based on the chi, usually translated as the Chinese foot, though it was actually derived from the distance between the tip of the thumb to the tip of the forefinger. Its actual length varies by dynasty — during the Qin dynasty 1 chi is around 0.226m — but the modern chi as used in the People’s Republic of China was defined in 1984 as being exactly 1/3 of a meter.
The chi is divided into ten smaller units known as cun (the Chinese inch). These can be further divided into ten fen, which were based on the dimensions of millet grains. Each cun was traditionally measured as the width of a person’s thumb at the knuckle.
10 chi are equivalent to 1 zhang, rendered in translations as the Chinese yard. In 1930, the Republic of China defined 1 zhang as 3.333m. Zhang are rarely used in mainland China today, but still appear in traditional Chinese architecture.
For longer distances there was the li, also known as the Chinese mile. 1 li consisted of 1,500 chi, was historically usually equivalent to about one third of an English mile, and is currently standardised to 500m. During the Qin dynasty, the li was standardised to 415.8m and remained as such until the end of the Han dynasty. As you might expect for the equivalent of ‘mile’, li is used in many sayings and proverbs as an indicator of great distances, such as when describing Dapple or Red Hare as ‘thousand-li horses’, to mean that they could supposedly travel a thousand li in a single day.
Chinese units of measurement: time
Modern timekeeping of course uses UTC standard hours, minutes, and seconds.
Each day was split into 12 segments of approximately two modern hours each, called shichen, with the first traditionally occurring from 23:00 to 01:00 with midnight in the middle of the first shichen.
Days could also be divided into smaller units of ke, defined as 1/100 of a day. This means that there are eight ke in every shichen, and 1 ke is equal to roughly 15 minutes. Ke are further subdivided into fen and miao, but these are hardly used in novels.
Of course, that’s easy stuff. The big problem in historical novels is when authors get ~poetic~ about it and start breaking out the tea and incense sticks.
The time it takes to drink a cup of tea is, as you might imagine, quite variable. It refers to the time from when a cup of tea is served to when it cools enough to drink it — in summer this might be 15 minutes, in winter it would be closer to 10 minutes. But in novels it’s typically understood to be 15 minutes.
If you burn an actual incense stick, it might take anywhere from five minutes to over an hour to finish burning. Its speed depends on many factors, such as airflow, humidity, length and thickness of the incense stick, and how dry the stick is. The concept of ‘a stick of incense’s worth of time’ originated with monks, who would use it to keep track of time as they meditated — incense sticks were simple to make, easy to carry, and unaffected by day/night cycles. People in those times knew that incense sticks were not a precise way to calculate time, but then, they also placed less importance on accurate timekeeping. In novels, this is usually used to express a time period of around 30 minutes.
- 1Lü Bu and Xiang Yu’s relationship in Unparalleled Conqueror could probably be called Dumb x Dumber
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