3 tales of Ancient China

     China has a long history that spans over three thousand years, and with that much time comes culture and tradition. Currently, many of those traditions have been forgotten or modified. However, there is one thing that stayed the same: the telling of ancient heroes and their tales. Being born in China, there are two kinds of stories you hear growing up, the first being the Chinese heroes that fought back the Japanese during WWII, and the second being a WHOLE LOT of ancient legends. So today I will be introducing to you three of my favorite ancient tales. 

1. THE THREE KINGDOMS 

    The tale of the three kingdoms is probably the second most well know story behind my number three (try and guess, it's pretty easy). This story that spans almost a century (189 AD – 263 AD) is undoubtedly my favorite Chinese legend of all time. I don't remember when I first heard this story, all I know is my grandpa told me this, and I instantly fell in love. The story takes place right after the fall of the Han dynasty, where China split into many different states wanting to unite China once again (which will totally not happen again multiple times every few hundred years). After a few years of endless battle, China has regrouped into "Three Kingdoms": Wei, Shu, Wu. Controlled by, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan, and they all try to defeat each other and take control of their territory. This is a story you can never get bored of, from the hundreds of warriors with completely different personalities and backstory to their unique weapons that don't even seem practical. The story can be told in any length between one to a few thousand pages. After you read the story, there will be hundreds of TV shows, movies, cards, and videogames waiting for you. If that's not enough, there are even preserved houses and temples from the story that you can visit. I can go on and on with how good this story is, but we must move on to the next tale.

2. WATER MARGIN

    A much less well known series compare to the Three Kingdoms, and I can definitely see why. This is basically the Suicide Squad of ancient China, a group of outlaws/antiheroes that helps the government. This is nowhere near as popular as other stories since it has too many different plots, Song Jiang and his 108 companions (The 36 "Heavenly Spirits" and the 72 "Earthly Demons") are just the protagonists. Yes, there are 109 protagonists. Even so, it is still a good read and all the characters are quite interesting. The ending also hit the feels pretty hard. Sadly there is only one or two TV shows and movies, though there is a 16-bit game about this called "Water Margin: The Tales of Clouds and Winds".

3. JOURNEY TO THE WEST/MONKEY KING

    When I say the most popular Chinese story most people will probably think of this tale, and they'd be right. This is probably the most influential thing that ever came out of China along with gun powder and Covid 19 (joke). Even if you have never heard of it you've probably seen references to this story. From videogame skins like in Overwatch or animes like Dragon Ball's Son Goku. Journey To The West, specifically Sun Wukong the monkey king is so incredibly well known. Published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty, the tale is about a monk, a monkey, two former generals of heaven (one is a pig), a dragon prince who turned into a horse, and their journey to the west while fighting off different demons. I was never terribly interested in this story but just off of the sheer amount of pop culture influences it has I had to include it on this blog, and if you want to watch this series as a TV show, I would recommend the 1986 version. Also the 2013 movie gave 7 years old me nightmares.

    There are still many, many more tales like Hua Mulan and all the holidays stories we have in China like the Mid-Autumn and Dragon Boat Festival. I don't think I have enough knowledge to make a part two of this, but I hope I have gotten you interested in at least one of these tales enough to check them out!

-Yan