China’s government and politics

Submitted to: Sir Tahir Mumtaz

Submitted by: Sara Afzal
Roll no: CAS-2007
BS-Area Studies (China)
4th semester
Date: 25 Oct 2021

三国/三國
The Three kingdoms-(220-280 BCE)

Introduction:
At the end of the Han Dynasty, numerous conflicts occurred between
political rivals. As a result, the empire was divided into three separate kingdoms:
Wu in the south, Wei in the north, and Shu in the west.
黄巾起义/Yellow turban rebellion was the ending point of Han dynasty as it took
21 years to suppress the uprising.
 China’s government and politics
After the fall of the Han dynasty the territories shrunk dramatically. The rise of the
Three kingdoms arose within those territories.
The region was divided between Cao Cao (155–220) who controlled the area north
of the Yangtze River, Liu Bei (161–223) who controlled an inland area including
Sichuan in the southwest, and Sun Quan (182–252) who controlled the southeast.
The north was called Cao Wei, the southwest was called Shu Han, and the southeast
was called Dong Wu.
The three kingdom period lasted for around 60 years. It was a time of disaster for
the people and ended with the Jin dynasty taking over.

The three kingdoms:

三国

Wèi 魏 Shǔ 蜀 Wú 吴
^ ^ ^
(220-265 C.E.) (221-263 C.E.) (229-280 C.E.)
^ ^ ^
Cáocāo 曹操 liúbèi 刘备 sūnquán 孙权
^ ^ ^
North south-west south-east
Wu：
The Wu Kingdom occupied the Yangtze Valley in the southeast, as well as
most of the south. The Wu Kingdom was established by Sun Ch’uan. The Wu
Kingdom was ruled by a succession of four emperors, and lasted for 52years. It had
the longest history of the Three Kingdoms. People of the Wu Kingdom cultivated
grain, and bred pigs and buffalo.

Shu:
Shu was ruled by Liu Bei. It was the smallest and therichest of the Three
Kingdoms.Many of the Shu peoples were wealthy merchants, who traded with Tibet
and India.
 China’s government and politics
Wei:
The Kingdom of Wei is considered the most powerful of the three kingdoms.
One of the Wei Dynasty’s most prominent figures was Cao Cao, a military leader
whose aim was to unify all of China – a goal that was never recognized. He was also
a poet whose poems began a new style of Jian An literature.

Battle of Guandu:
Cao Cao, who was the ruler of Wei, won the Battle of Guandu against
Yuanshao. Yuan Shao had better forces but Cao Cao had better strategies. A year
later Wei kingdom came into being. He ruled and united the north of China.

Battle of Red Cliffs:

Even though warlord Cao Cao had the advantage in military, but in the same
year as the battle of Guandu, he was defeated by the alliance military of Sun Quan
and Liu Bei in the Battle of Red cliffs, thus forming the base of the Three Kingdom.
They had taken advantage of Cao Cao personal flaws such as lack of trust and bad
judgement. The southern armies burned Cao Wei’s boats, giving a birth to the
saying “火烧赤壁”

Cao Cao:
In the mid-190s, Cao Cao dominated north China and began to establish a
parallel state structure which was possible because the state of the Han dynasty
had practically ceased to exist. Having been abducted by the mighty general Dong
Zhuo, Emperor Xian of the Han dynasty was forced to live in Chang'an (today's Xi'an
, Shaanxi). The empire was shaken by the Yellow Turban uprising (huangjin qiyi) and
fell apart by the competition for power by several regional warlords. In 196, Cao Cao
received the abandoned emperor in his residence in Xu (today's Xuchang, Henan).
This was by no way unreasonable, as the capitals Luoyang (today in Henan) and
Chang'an were devastated.
Four years later, the warlord Yuan Shao attempted to destroy Cao Cao' base,
and the two parties met in the battle of Guandu (today's Zhongmou, Henan), where
Cao defeated his opponent and began to conquer step by step the northern parts of
the Central Plain. Cao made himself Counsellor-in-chief and de-facto regent for
Emperor Xian. At the same time, he was allowed to bear the title of King of Wei.
On 11 Dec 220, Cao Cao' successor Cao Pi urged Emperor Xian to abdicate
and lay the Heavenly Mandate into the hands of the Cao family. Half a year later, Liu
 China’s government and politics
Bei, master of the region of Shu (Sichuan), proclaimed himself emperor of Shu. In
222, Cao Pi allowed the warlord of the southeast, Sun Quan, to bear the title of King
of Wu. In 229, Sun also adopted the imperial title.

Liu Bei:
The empire of Shu-Han was one of the Three Empires. It was founded by Liu
Bei. Shu is the name of the region (modern Sichuan), derived from the ancient state
of Shu. Liu Bei's empire is called Shu-Han because Liu Bei claimed descent from the
ruling family of the Han dynasty and saw himself as the legal successor to the Han,
whose throne had been usurped by the Wei dynasty.
In the last decades of the Later Han period , the province of Yizhou was
controlled by Liu Yan, a distant relative of the imperial house. He profited from the
successful suppression by the local elites of the Yellow Turban uprising, and finally
planned to adopt the title of emperor. Liu Yan was succeeded as regional governor
of the province of Yizhou by his son Liu Zhang. Yet both, father and son, were not
able to gain control over the local elites, and were challenged by the emergence of a
new rebel movement launched by Zhang Lu, the so-called Celestial Master of the
Daoist Five-Pecks-of-Grain sect. Liu Zhang was finally urged by a retainer of his to
join with Liu Bei, who controlled the province of Jingzhou in the middle Yangtze
region.
Liu Zhang entrusted Fa Zheng with the mission to invite Liu Bei, but Fa was
aware that Liu Zhang was no match for Liu Bei, and suggested to the latter to take
over the province. In 211, Liu Bei entered Sichuan with a force of only 11,000 men.
Liu Bei remained loyal to the regional governor and carried out military attacks on
the Celestial Master Zhang Lu. Yet in 212, Cao Cao, who controlled the Yellow River
plain, attacked Sun Quan in the southeast, a former ally of Liu Bei. The latter
decided to support Sun Quan, a decision which roused the anger of Liu Zhang. He
broke with his supporter Liu Bei, who thereupon turned against Liu Zhang and
conquered the capital of Sichuan, Chengdu. Liu Zhang surrendered and was sent to
Jingzhou, as governor and a subordinate of Liu Bei.
Liu Bei himself, now master of the Sichuan Basin, began to organise his own
government. He was supported by competent advisors like Zhuge Liang. Even if Liu
Bei was not known as a successful military leader, he was known for his ability to
respect talents among his subordinates and advisors, and thus attracted new
supporters. One of his first projects was the reconstruction of the educational
system, for which reason Sichuan became the centre of intellectual and literary
trends in the 3rd century CE. The central administration of the Han empire was a
model for Liu Bei's own court.
 China’s government and politics
Sun Quan:
The empire of Wu was one of the Three Empires. It was founded by Sun
Quan, the "Great Emperor". The dynasty is also called Sun-Wu. From the
perspective of the other empires, Sun Quan's empire was called Dong-Wu "Wu in
the East".
The "warlord state" of the southeast was based on the military achievements
of Sun Jian, who served in the suppression of various local uprisings in the last
decades of the Later Han period. Sun hailed from a town close to present-day
Hangzhou, at that time part of the command of Wu. During the domination of Han
China by Dong Zhuo, Sun Jian and his cousin Sun Ben were commanders under the
warlord Yuan Shu. Sun Jian died in the campaign, and his oldest son Sun Ce
continued the support of Yuan, together with Zhou Yu, another important military
commander.
In 194, Sun Ce for the first time proved his strategic and tactical brilliance
and gained control over the Jiangnan region southeast of the Yangtze River. The
young man was highly admired by the officer staff and was able to attract more
followers, including his uncle Wu Jing. When Yuan Shu took the title as emperor in
197, Sun Ce decided to break with him and declared his allegiance to the Han
dynasty. The central government, at that time dominated by the warlord Cao Cao,
responded by confirming Sun Ce as regional governor of the southeast. From this
area, he began to expand his domain towards the west, the province of Jingzhou in
the middle Yangtze region, and towards the north, into the Huai River region. In
200, Sun Ce was killed by a member of a hunting party. His brother Sun Quan took
over the rule over the southeast.
Like his father and brother, the young Sun Quan was able to secure the
loyalty of his officers. In 208, the domination over the southeast was firm enough to
expand further towards the east. A fleet travelled up the Yangtze River and
destroyed Huang Zu's defences at Xiakou (today's Wuhan, Hubei). The provincial
governor Liu Biao died shortly later, and his son Liu Cong surrendered to Cao Cao.
The rest of the province of Jingzhou was thereafter controlled by Liu Qi and Liu Bei.
After lengthy deliberations with his staff, Sun Quan decided not to surrender to the
powerful warlord Cao Cao, but to align with Liu Qi and Liu Bei.
Zhou Yu arranged with the two Lius for the defence of the Yangtze River, and
their joint army destroyed the forces of Cao Cao in the famous battle at the Red
Cliff. Cao Cao's forces were repelled, and he lost access to the Yangtze region in the
 China’s government and politics
long run. Sun Quan tried to use this chance to advance further in the eastern part
of the war theatre, but was not able to push the frontline further north in the Huai
River region. The area was well protected by the military agro-colonies that
enabled Cao Cao's troops to operate independent from the supplies of the centre.
Yet Sun Quan could also not get a firm foothold in the middle Yangtze, where Liu
Bei expanded his domain to the south into the Xiang River valley (today's Hunan).
The death of Zhou Yu deprived Sun Quan of a reliable and excellent military leader.
He therefore offered to give Liu Bei his sister as a wife, but Liu declined. In 211, Liu
Bei was invited by Liu Zhang in the province of Yizhou (Sichuan), and engaged as
defender of the Sichuan Basin against Cao Cao. Nonetheless, the alliance against
Cao Cao was maintained in spite of the conflict between Sun and Liu.
The alliance broke apart in 215. After a serious defeat in the Huai River
region, Sun Quan faced a new invasion of Cao Cao, and accepted the suzerainty of
the latter to ensure military rest. Liu Bei made success in his campaigns in the
Hanzhong region against Cao Cao, and his general Guan Yu opened a second front
in the middle Yangtze region. Sun Quan used this chance and ordered Lü Meng to
attack Guan from the rear. Guan was defeated and died, an event which Liu Bei
interpreted as great treason of their alliance. The defeat of Guan Yu allowed Sun
Quan to occupy the middle Yangtze region.
When Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian of the Han to abdicate and adopted the
title of emperor of Wei. Sun Quan accepted this step, declared his loyalty, and was
in late 221 rewarded with the title of King of Wu. Liu Bei had responded by declaring
himself emperor of Shu-Han in April 221. Liu desired to take revenge for the death
of Guan Yu, and sent an army down the Yangtze against Sun Quan. General Lu Xun
used the right moment for a full-fledged attack on the invader, and utterly defeated
the army of Shu-Han. Liu Bei accepted an armistice. Sun Quan was then in full
control of the middle and lower Yangtze regions, and by military means secure
enough to break the alliance with Wei and declare himself master of an
independent kingdom in late 222. His domain reached Guangdong and even into
what is today the north of Vietnam. Yet unlike the empires of Cao-Wei and
Shu-Han, the large territory of Wu was not coherent, but divided by mountain
ranges and hostile territory. Sun Quan tried to make for good by establishing
diplomatic relationships with southeast Asian countries like Funan or with the
warlord of the northeast, Gongsun Yuan. He even launched an expedition to the
island of Taiwan. In 229, Sun Quan followed the example of Cao Pi and Liu Bei and
adopted the title of emperor.
 China’s government and politics

The social landscape of the southeast and south had considerably changed during
the Later Han period. Large-scale immigration from the Yellow River plain
superseded the native population, drove native tribes into the hills, and created
new local elites, with which the Sun family had to cooperate in order to win and
stay in power. The size of the registered population had multiplied five to seven
times in the previous two hundred years. The expansion of the power of Sun's
regime made necessary the cooptation of the local elite, but also the impetus of
strong leaders like He Qi, who conquered the region of what is today the province
of Fujian, Huang Gai, who secured the region of present-day Hunan, or the generals
Lü Meng, Lu Xun and Zhuge Ke.
The capital Jianye(present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), was built up from the
scratch, and emerged as a formidable centre of culture and economy in the course
of the 3rd century. It was rhapsodized by the poet Zuo Si, the home of many
scholars and scientists, and the source of the famous porcelain of Wu. The state of
Sun Quan was nevertheless a military establishment, which was felt in the conduct
and thought of many high dignities like He Qi or Gan Ning, or the emperor himself,
who is said to have behaved sometimes in the manner of a warlord rather than that
of a sovereign.
In order to invigorate the economy, agriculture and military power, large
farmlands were opened in the lower and middle Yangtze areas, and Sun Quan tried
to obtain cheap workforces by forcing non-Chinese hilltribes into slavery. There
existed intensive economical contacts with countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia,
and perhaps even to India and the Middle and Near East. The overseas activities of
the Wu empire thus paved the way for economic expansion during the Southern
Dynasties period.
In order to secure his own rule, Sun Quan granted the mighty families of the large
land estate owners of the lower Yangtze area wide privileges. They were exempted
from certain taxes, had special economical and military rights, and were allowed to
manage large households with thousands of clerks, bondsmen and slaves. Yet not to
lose the grip on these quasi self-governed communities, wives and sons of these
aristocrats had to be sent to the capital as hostages, and certain officials had the
task to control this gentry. Often, local clans fought for their political independence
from the court at Jianye. He died in 252 A.D.
 China’s government and politics
Emperors in Sānguó period
kingdom Emperor Time Points
tenure

1. Wei Wendi (Cao 220 - 226 ● The second son of the Chinese politician and poet Cao Cao; he is considered
Pi) the founder of Wei.

226 - 239 ● Son of Cao Pi; during his reign, Shu and Wu become more entrenched.
2. Wei Mingdi (Cao
Before he died, he entrusted his son Cao Fang to the regency of Cao Shuang
Rui)
and Sima Yi - ultimately a fatal mistake for his empire.
3. Wei Qiwang (Cao 239 - 254 ● Adopted by Cao Rui, he was rumored to be the son of Cao Kai who was a
Wèi Fang) grandson of Cao Cao. Although he reigned longer than any other emperor in

魏 4. Gao Guixiang
Wei's history, he did not have any real imperial authority. He was eventually
deposed by Sima Yi.

Gong (Cao Mao) 254 - 260 ● A grandson of Cao Pi, his reign was under the domination of the Simas. He
attempted a coup against Sima Zhao, but was killed by Sima's troops.

260 - 265 ● A grandson of Cao Cao, and the last emperor of Wei who was still a
5. Wei Yuandi (Cao
figurehead of the Simas. During his reign, Shu was defeated by Wei. He was
Huan)
forced to abdicate by Sima Yan, and was given the title of "Prince of Chenliu"
which he retained for the rest of his life

1. Zhao Liedi (Liu 221 - 223 ● A descendant of the Western Han imperial family and born into the
Bei) commoner class. With military counselor Zhuge Liang's assistance, he
founded Shu and became the first emperor of Shu.
● The second and last emperor of Shu. During his reign, he surrendered to
Shǔ蜀 2. Hou Zhu (Liu 223 - 263
Chan) the Kingdom of Wei in 263.

1. Dadi (Sun 222 - 252 ● Son of Sun Jian and founder of Wu, Sun Quan had the longest reign among
Wú 吴
Quan) the emperors of Wu
2. Kuai ji wang 252 - 258 ● Sun Quan's youngest son and heir, he was known as the Prince of Kuaiji , a
(Sun Liang) title given to him after he was removed by the regent Sun Lin
258 - 264 ● Another son of Sun Quan and brother of Sun Liang, Sun Xu was known for
3. Jingdi (Sun Xiu)
being tolerant of differing opinions and for being studious
4. Wen Cheng 264 - 280 ● The eldest son of Sun He and a crown prince of the first emperor Sun Quan.
Hou (Sun Hao) During his reign, he surrendered to the Jin Court.
 China’s government and politics
Political history:

Cao Wei:
In order to consolidate his rule, Cao Pi tried to abolish the institutional
problems by which the Later Han dynasty had suffered from and to which it had
finally succumbed. It was forbidden to present submissions or petitions to
empresses, bypassing the authority of the emperor. Furthermore, kinsmen of
empresses were excluded from official posts and titles of nobility. Relatives and
princes of the imperial house were endowed with land far away from the capital,
and were ordered to reside within these estates and not in the capital Luoyang.
Their personal troops were not to surpass a certain number of soldiers. On the one
hand, the dynastic threats by rivalry for throne succession and the interference of
the families of empresses were eliminated, but on the other, the Wei emperors were
largely isolated and found not enough support among the officialdom and the social
elite. Although Cao Cao had not been a real member of the northern Chinese
aristocracy, he was accepted as a leader due to his military and political successes.
Nonetheless, he tried to oust his political opponents among the aristocracy with
brutal force and thereby provoked the hostility of the distinguished families with
their prestige and power. Cao Cao looked not only for supporters among the
families of a higher education and a higher social background, but also among the
lower social strata and tried to promote people of ability rather than simply
because of social background.

Like his father, Cao Pi relied on a very austere and economical household policy and
interrupted the organisation of extravagant burials and tombs as it had been
popular among the Han-period aristocracy and officialdom.

At the northern frontier, general Jiang Ji pacified the tribal federations of the
Xiongnu or the city states of Shanshan, Qiuci, and Yutian. They accepted the
suzerainty of the new emperor of China . Cao Wei installed a commandant
"protecting" the federation of the Xianbei, whose leader Ke-bi-neng for some time
challenged the security of the northern frontier. The Western Territories were
governed as an administrative prefecture. Following the tradition of territorial
expansion of the Han empire to the Central Asian oasis cities, military
agro-colonies were arranged especially in the area of Gaochang (Xinjiang).
 China’s government and politics
The southern frontier towards the empires of Wu and Shu was relatively stable and
quiet for the coming decades, although several military campaigns were carried out
against two southern empires. In the region of River Huai, too, military
agro-colonies guaranteed the self-subsistence of the military border garrisons. A
Wei invasion of the lower Yangtze region in 224 failed. In the late 220s, the chief
counsellor of Shu, Zhuge Liang, launched several campaigns across the Qinling
Range and was able to occupy some territory in the region of what is today
southern Shaanxi. The death of the great strategist in 234 ended the military
advance of Shu. 245, Guanqiu Jian forced the state of Koguryŏ into submission. The
influence of the Wei empire even extended to Japan, from where Queen Himiko of
Yamatai, one of the Wa states , sent tributes to Luoyang.

After Cao Pi's death in 225, his son Cao Rui became emperor, supported by the
regents Cao Zhen, Chen Qun, Cao Xiu, and Sima Yi.

Cao Rui was the initiator of a new criminal and administrative codex called
Weilü or Xinlü. Under his rule several military campaigns against the empires of Wu
and Shu took place, and the autonomous rule of Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong
(modern Liaoning) was ended.

In order to pursue an official career, it was necessary to take part in a kind of

examination system that was based on the Confucian Classics. These procedures
were partially a response to the philosophical movement of the "School of the
Mystery" that preferred to discuss metaphysical questions rather than social and
state-political matters. The School of the Mystery was very widespread among the
educated class during the third and fourth centuries, as can be seen in the "liberal"
lives and writings of the Seven Worthies from the Bamboo Grove.

In these administrative regulations the origin of the state examination system can
be found that was to dominate access to official career until the very beginning of
the twentieth century. The rulers of the Wei dynasty also introduced the custom to
divide the ranks of state offices into nine grades with upper, mean and lower
sub-ranks (counting 27 ranks in total, later only upper and lower ranks). All eminent
families of the state were likewise classified into nine grades, and their sons were
allowed to be appointed to offices with a corresponding rank, and not higher.

The policy of austerity that had been pursued under the rule of Cao Cao and
Cao Pi was gradually given up. There was again material and personal unthriftiness
 China’s government and politics
at the central court and among the aristocracy. Emperor Ming died childless in 239,
and the ageing regent Sima Yi took over the government for the child emperor Cao
Fang. Yet Sima Yi was maneuvered out by the court clique around Cao Shuang, a
faction to which also the philosopher He Yan belonged. Only when Sima Yi, backed
by other eminent families, was able to establish a coalition with the Empress
Dowager, Cao Shuang was eliminated. In 251, the Defender-in-chief Wang Ling
overthrew the child emperor Cao Fang and installed Cao Biao as new ruler.

In turn, Sima Yi's son Sima Shi was able to disempower the clique of Wang Ling,
Guanqiu Jian, and Zhuge Dan, and installed another puppet ruler named Cao Mao.
Sima Shi's brother Sima Zhao was bestowed the title of Duke of Jin and, after Cao
Mao's untimely death, brought to the throne yet another puppet emperor, Cao
Huan , posthumously called Emperor Yuan.

Under the nominal rule of Emperor Yuan, Jiang Wei and Deng Ai advanced through
the Han River region (Hanzhong) and conquered Chengdu, the capital of the empire
of Shu. Sima Zhao, who held the high command in Wei, was rewarded with the post
of Counsellor-in-chief and the title of King of Jin.

The potentate Sima Zhao was succeeded by his son Sima Yan (known as Emperor
Wu of Jin) in 265, as both King of Jin and Counsellor-in-chief. He did not hesitate
very long to dethrone Cao Huan, demoted him to the rank of Prince of Chenliu, and
in 266 proclaimed the Jin dynasty.

Shu Han:
Liu Bei's military fortunes itself were mediocre. He could not win back
territory in the middle Yangtze area, and the threat of Zhang Lu's Daoist state was
only ended when Zhang surrendered to Cao Cao. At least, Liu could gain some
territory in the Hanzhong region, and therefore adopted the title of King of Han,
following the model of Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu), who had been King of Han before
he founded the imperial Han dynasty. In 219, Liu Bei's general Guan Yu was killed in
a campaign led by Sun Quan, and the whole middle Yangtze region fell into the
hands of Sun, leaving Liu Bei just the Sichuan Basin.
Propagandistically announced by omens and auspicious phenomena, Liu Bei was
enthroned as emperor of Han in 221. His Counsellor-in-chief was Zhuge Liang. In
229, Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor of Wu.
In 221, Liu Bei decided to launch a campaign to reconquer the province of Jingzhou
and take revenge for the death of Guan Yu. After initial success in the battle of
Zigui, the tide turned. Shortly after the defeat in the critical battle of Yiling (or
 China’s government and politics
Xiaoting, near present-day Yichang , Hubei) Liu Bei died, and the Shu empire was
given into the hands of his young son Liu Shan.
Liu Shan had an age of just 17, which made the regency of Zhuge Liang
necessary, but even in later years, Liu Shan never adopted an active role in
governmental affairs. Chief Counsellor Zhuge Liang restructured the government to
enable cooptation of local elites by the non-local government. He brought relief to
the local population, lightened punishments and reduced the size of the
bureaucracy. Civil and military positions were filled by locals. Zhuge Liang is praised
by historians for the fair and just fulfillment of his duties. A weak point in his overall
strategy was that he always pursued the idea to conquer the Wei empire and
neglected a closer identification of the Liu family and their supporters with the
local elites, and thus estranged the two parts.
The first military campaigns of the Shu-Han empire were directed against
the south, where non-Chinese tribes resisted the dominance of the Han elites in
the Sichuan Basin. The region of Nanzhong (today's Guizhou and Yunnan) were
conquered in 225, even if native leaders like Meng Huo were allowed to retain their
functions in the native communities. Meng even rose to the post of Vice
Censor-in-chief in the central government of Shu-Han. Some tribes like the Qiang
were even known as fierce fighters and became an integral part of the elite troops
of Shu. The government of Shu thus exploited the human resources of the south as
well as its material ones. Huge numbers of non-Chinese were forcibly resettled
close to Chengdu to work as slaves on public or private fields.
The passing away of Emperor Wen of Wei offered a chance to launch a military
campaign against the state of Wei. In 226, Zhuge Liang in person commanded the
operation and conquered some commanderies in the western region, but an
advance to Chang'an failed. His northern campaigns of 231 and 234 had likewise
limited effects, mostly caused by problems in the fields of logistics. Attempts to
improve military supply by the creation of military agro-colonies did not yield the
desired effects.
After Zhuge Liang's death, a new generation of administrators took over the
state. The central government was in the hands of Jiang Wan, Fei Yi and Dong Yun.
The years until Jiang Wan's death were stable and peaceful. With the takeover by
Jiang Wei, a new series of military campaigns began. In 247, Jiang defeated an army
of Wei in the northwestern parts of the frontier, and two years later launched a
major campaign. It was no success, and some generals even surrendered to Wei. In
251, control over the central government fell into the hands of Chen Zhi, who
collaborated with the eunuch Huang Hao. In the field, Jiang Wei almost annually
attacked the enemy in the northern border zone, but he failed each time. The
officialdom became more and more alarmed by the events in the field and at the
court. Qiao Zhou urged the emperor to turn his eyes on governmental affairs and to
 China’s government and politics
check Jiang Wang's useless efforts as well as Huang Hao's growing power, but to no
avail.
Huang Hao refused to further support Jiang Wan, even after a new defeat in 262 by
Deng Ai, a general of Wei. Deng Ai, Zhong Hui and Zhuge Xu advanced deep into
the territory of Shu. While some officials suggested flight to the south or alliance
with the empire of Wu, Qiao Zhou voted for surrender in order to save the lives of
the emperor, court and subjects. Emperor Liu Shan decided to surrender to Deng
Ai, and presented the victor the seals of the empire of Shu-Han. He was brought to
Luoyang, the capital of Wei, where he died as prefectural Duke of Anle . For his
whole life, he had been regarded as a "little child" and historiographers therefore
used to call him with his child name Adou . Officials of Shu were offered posts in
the government of Wei, and some accepted. Others were drawn into the conflict
between the ruling family Cao and the Sima family which eventually overthrew the
Caos.
It can be concluded that the continued attempts to conquer north China distracted
the Liu family from attention to the rich resources the region had to offer.

Sun-Wu:
After Sun Quan's death in 252, succession struggles broke out between his
sons Sun He and Sun Ba that were both supported by various court factions and
steered by their sisters Sun Luban and Sun Luyu, and Sun He's mother Lady Wang.
The intrigues were finally ended in favour of Sun's youngest son Sun Liang, son of
Lady Pan. As Sun Liang was just seven years old, Zhuge Ke was appointed regent for
the under-age sovereign.
Zhuge Ke, however, was assassinated by Prince Sun Jun. Yet this was only the
beginning of a series of murderous intrigues. After Sun Jun's death, his cousin Sun
Chen took over the factual control over the central government, wiped away his
opponents and finally forced Sun Liang to abdication. The Deposed Emperor, as he
is called by historians, was demoted to the status of Prince of Guiji. Sun Chen
enthroned Sun Xiu, who is known as Emperor Jing. The Wu court was quite happy
that two incidents in the Huai River region were settled internally by the state of
Wei, namely the rebellion of general Guanqiu Jian, and that of Zhuge Dan in 257.
Emperor Jing finally ended the control of the imperial princes over the throne
succession by arresting and executing Sun Chen and even his own brother, the
retired Prince of Guiji. During the reign of Emperor Jing, the empire of Wei invaded
and terminated the Shu-Han empire in Sichuan. Just a year later, the powerful
regent Sima Yan overthrew the Wei dynasty and founded the Jin.
 China’s government and politics
Sun Hao, a son of Sun He and the last emperor of Wu, is known as a frivolous and
prodigious person - even if this is the common mode of Chinese historiographers
to describe last rulers. After the Wei dynasty had conquered Shu and was itself
succeeded by the Jin dynasty, Sun Hao prepared for military confrontation. At the
same time he was confronted with local rebellions and grave dissatisfaction at the
court and among the local elites. In 279, Sima Yan thrusted from two sides into the
Wu empire, in the west through the Han River valley, and in the east across the
Huai River. Sun Hao surrendered and was brought to Luoyang, where he died with
the title of Marquis of Guiming four years later.
The main reason for the internal weakness of the empire of Wu in its later decades
was the dominance of eminent families of magnates who did not support the
central government, but fought only for their own interests.

Arts and culture:

The Three Kingdoms survived for too short a period to contribute much to
the arts in any conventional sense, although during their time the use of clay
puppets to act out dramas did arise. But the period is important to the arts as
subject matter. This short and bloody era of warfare and political intrigue was one
of the most interesting and romantic in China’s long history; and, ever since, it has
been a favourite subject of historical fiction and other art forms. One of the most
celebrated examples is the novel Sanguozhi Yanyi (Romance of the Three
Kingdoms).
Kings and high-ranking officials wore gold or gilt-bronze crowns and diadems and
also adorned themselves with earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and finger rings made
of gold, silver, bronze, jade, and glass.
During the Three Kingdoms and Jin period, especially during the Eastern Jin
period (317 – 420 AD), aristocratic women sought for a carefree lifestyle after the
collapse of the Eastern Han dynasty's ethical code; this kind of lifestyle influenced
the development of women's clothing, which became more detailed. Typical women
attire during this period is the guiyi, which is also called the Swallow-tailed Hems
and Flying Ribbons clothing, wide-sleeved paofu adorned with xian (long swirling
silk ribbons) and shao (a type of triangular pieces of decorative embroidered-cloth)
on the lower hem of the robe that hanged like banners and formed a "layered
effect".
 China’s government and politics
Economical state:
War, drought, locust plagues and the decaying state administration at the
end of the second century AD did not only contribute to the deterioration of the
national economy and the social welfare, but these phenomena in total caused
unimaginable calamities for the population in the few cities and the countryside,
especially in north China. People that did not die due to hunger, war and pests took
themselves to flight. Many thousands of peasants left their homelands and
immigrated to modern Sichuan, the lower Yangtze area or to the northeastern
region. The political disturbances that should determine the fate of China’s north
for the next four centuries brought about immeasurable afflictions to the people.

Cao Wei:
It was just the great warlords of the north, Cao Cao, who perceived that a
social and therewith also an economical improvement could only occur if the
peasants would be organized and directed by the state. The peasant refugees had to
be settled and forced to tillage and weave. Cao Cao resorted to a method that was
first used during the Western Han Dynasty to create economically self-sustaining
military agro-colonies in the western territories. The forces deployed at the
northwestern border had to till their fields by themselves, being peasants and
soldiers at the same time. Now, Cao Cao installed two kinds of agrarian colonies in
the middle of his empire: civil agrarian colonies, and military agrarian colonies. The
inhabitants of the latter were especially obliged to serve as soldiers if necessary.
The colonies were administered by special officials that did not belong to the
regular administration system with commanderies and counties. While the
client-farmers working in the agro-colonies in the first years were only compelled
to till their fields respectively to serve as soldiers, they were later obliged to
perform corvee labour. There were few incentives for the people to abide by the
agrarian colonies. They were not allowed to leave their homelands, could only
marry people from their own “caste” and worked as a kind of state-owned
peasant-slaves. Besides the state agrarian colonies, there existed of course also
private estates, but the social situation of these peasants was not better. Because
the population had shrunk dramatically, it was necessary to rigidly control and to
concentrate the few remaining peasants. The measures to resettle peasants,
compulsory labourers, and slaves in the vicinity of the capital or on the estates to
ensure the economical surviving of the state should be a kind of regular state
 China’s government and politics
violence for the next centuries in north China, and the least landholders used
material incentives but rather brutal force to bring the fleeing peasants back to
their old or their new homelands.

Shu Han:
The area of modern Sichuan and north was roamed and governed by the
Daoist sect of the Five-Pecks-of-Grain founded by Heavenly Master Zhang Jiao
during the middle of the 2nd century AD. While north China suffered most under
the natural disasters and the warfare of Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao and their
opponents, the remote region of the Sichuan basin was a relatively quiet and
peaceful place during these unpeaceful decades, even after Liu Bei withdrew to
Yizhou and founded his Shu-Han empire in 221. Chancellor Zhuge Liang's southern
conquest, and the few military campaigns against the Cao-Wei empire did not have
a significant impact on the recovering economy in the Sichuan area. Partially due to
the incoming refugees from China's north and their workforce, but also because
Zhuge Liang had the montagnard people of the south imported as workers in the
Sichuan basin, there was almost no need of state-guided intensive agriculture in
semi-militarian agrarian colonies like in the north. Agricultural (re-)construction
was not only promoted in the water-rich Sichuan basin with its natural resources of
irrigable fields, but also in the mountainous southern regions of modern Yunnan
Province, a region that experienced its first real economical opening during the
time of the Shu-Han Empire. Following the tradition of the Han Empire, the state
seized the monopol of salt, iron and silk production, transport, commerce and
distribution. A great part of commerce was handled by barter trade with natural
materials, but we find already the casting and circulating of copper coins, a
currency that was far more widespread in the Shu-Han empire than in the
economically wrecked north of China.

Sun-Wu:
The area south of the Yangtze river was rich in natural resources, but the few
Chinese inhabitants living there were not able to exploit all these natural resources
and at the same time to fight against the non-Chinese mountain tribes. The natural
richness and fertility of this area did partially prevent the development of
sophisticated agriculture like it had been exerted in north China for more than two
thousand years. Only with the advent of peasant refugees and some immigrant
aristocracy from the north, there was the social need to draw more attention to an
 China’s government and politics
enforced agriculture, using the immigrants from the north as workforce. Like in the
Cao-Wei empire, the arable land was either worked by private peasants or by state
peasant-slaves in civil or military agrarian colonies. But while the state-run agrarian
colonies in the north were administered independently from the commanderies
and counties, Sun Quan's agrarian colonies were equally administered among
commanderies and counties, at the same level. Furthermore, the military agrarian
colonies of the south were inhabited not only by the peasant-soldiers, but also by
their families, giving them the same surficial appearance like the civil agrarian
colonies. Apart from the state-owned agrarian colonies, most land belonged to the
rich gentry of the south that had now many workforces at their disposal, immigrant
people from the north looking for tenant land and work, and captives from the
mountain tribes. Following the tradition of the Han Empire, the state seized the
monopol of salt, iron and silk production, transport, commerce and distribution. A
speciality of southern handicraft was the green glazed pottery and the construction
of sea-going ships that took over the commerce along the numerous inland
waterways and with foreign countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia and even South
Asia. Although copper coins served as a common currency in the Sun-Wu empire,
salt and silk often served as barter goods.

Science & technology:

Metalwork was one of the most developed mediums of the decorative arts in
the Three Kingdoms period.
Technology advanced significantly during this period. Shu chancellor Zhuge Liang
invented the wooden ox, suggested to be an early form of the wheelbarrow, and
improved on the repeating crossbow.
Wei mechanical engineer Ma Jun is considered by many to be the equal of his
predecessor Zhang Heng. He invented a hydraulic-powered, mechanical puppet
theatre designed for Emperor Ming of Wei, square-pallet chain pumps for irrigation
of gardens in Luoyang, and the ingenious design of the south-pointing chariot, a
non-magnetic directional compass operated by differential gears.
Sun Quan laid great emphasis on the development of agriculture by appointing the
farming officials and carrying out the Tuntian System (A farming system that
farmers and soldiers till the field for military use or tax provision).
 China’s government and politics
Textile industry developed well as the residents from the north area brought
advanced handicraft skills and sufficient labor force.
Machines were constructed for irrigation, food processing and transport. Brewing
and the production of sugar from malt and sugar cane became more refined.

Start of Jin dynasty:

In 263A.D, The Wei force attacked Shu and Liu Shan, the emperor of Shu
surrendered to the Wei army. Two years after taking Shu, in 265 A.D., the Sima clan
overthrew Wei and created the Jin Dynasty. Fifteen years later, Jin went down south
and conquered Wu. The three kingdoms period ended in 280 finally ended when
Wu fell and the turbulent times were over. China was once again unified.

Contributions of the Three Kingdoms:

The most significant contribution of the Three Kingdoms era was the spread
of Buddhism during this period. Because Buddhistswere craftsmen and artists, they
were responsible for the creation of numerous elaborate temples and monasteries.