Read a hundred times and you will see your own righteousness. This is the famous saying of Dong Yu in "Three Kingdoms·Wei Zhi·Biography of Wang Su".

Chen Shou was eager to learn when he was young, and was taught by Qiao Zhou, a scholar from the same county. During the Shu Han Dynasty, he served as the chief secretary of General Wei, the secretary of Dongguan, the history of Guange Lingshi, and the minister of Sanqi Huangmen. At that time, the eunuch Huang Hao had exclusive power, and all the ministers were willing to obey. Chen Shou was dismissed many times because he refused to submit to Huang Hao. After Shu was surrendered to Jin, he successively held the posts of Shu Lang, Grand Administrator of Changguang, Zhi Shu and Censor, and Prince Concubine. In his later years, he was demoted many times and criticized many times. Yuankang died of illness in the seventh year of his reign (297) at the age of sixty-five.

In the first year of Taikang (280), after Jin destroyed Wu and ended the split, Chen Shou went through ten years of hard work to complete the historical masterpiece "Three Kingdoms". This book completely narrates the historical picture of China's transformation from division to reunification in the past hundred years from the end of the Han Dynasty to the beginning of the Jin Dynasty. It is also known as the first four histories together with "Historical Records", "Han Shu" and "Hou Han Shu".

Introduction to Chen Shou

Chen Shou, courtesy name Chengzuo, was born in Anhan (now north of Nanchong, Sichuan) in the Western Jin Dynasty. He was rarely eager to learn, so he studied under Qiao Zhou, a scholar from the same county, and served as the official historian of Guan Ge in the Shu Han Dynasty. At that time, the eunuch Huang Hao had exclusive power, and all the ministers were willing to obey. Chen Shou was dismissed many times because he refused to submit to Huang Hao. After entering the Jin Dynasty, he successively held the positions of author, scribe and censor. In 280 AD, Jin destroyed Soochow and ended the split. Chen Shou was forty-eight years old at the time and began to write "Three Kingdoms".

"Three Kingdoms" is a chronicle and country history that records the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu. Among them, there are thirty volumes of "Book of Wei", fifteen volumes of "Book of Shu", twenty volumes of "Book of Wu", and sixty-five volumes of "Book of Wu". It records the sixty-year history from the first year of Emperor Huangchu of Wei Wen (220 years) to the first year of Taikang (280 years) of Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty. The author is Chen Shou in the early Western Jin Dynasty.

Chen Shou was a minister of Jin, and Jin succeeded Wei and ruled the world. Therefore, "Three Kingdoms" respects Wei as orthodox. In the "Book of Wei", a chronicle was written for Cao Cao, while in the "Book of Shu" and "Book of Wu" there are only biographies and no chronicles. When Liu Bei is remembered, it is called "The Biography of the First Lord", and when Sun Quan is remembered, it is called "The Biography of the Lord Wu". This is an example of history books serving politics, and it is also a characteristic of "Three Kingdoms".