Three Kingdoms History: Update Archives

2007—: Updates are no longer referenced on the Novel and History home page.

2/24/06: I would like to officially welcome SlickSlicer as a Sanguo yanyi biography author. He has authored biographies for Cai Yong, Pang Tong (Shiyuan), and King Mulu, and is considering a few others as you read this. Enjoy!

11/17/05: About half a month ago I was reading a conversation between a few Three Kingdoms fans about the different units of Chinese measurement found in the book and other references, and how they translated to English. They were lamenting the fact that a tool they used to use to do this for them on the internet has since gone offline. I realized I didn’t know the locations of any tools for this either! As a result, a small but cool side-project was born, the Imperial Chinese Unit Conversion Tool. It was in early development with bugs up until recently, but it is now providing accurate results for units of distance/length. Rather than keep it on hold until it is complete, I decided I’d share it with everyone now. I’ll add the other unit types with time, but for now, please enjoy, and do report any problems you encounter so I can fix them. Permanent Location: Novel and History section, on the right-hand menu under ‘Literature and Language’, listed as ‘Chinese Measurements’.

11/12/05: Here’s some news we hope a few of you are excited about. There was talk some time ago about a community maintained Three Kingdoms Encyclopedia and there I mentioned my hopes of one day giving everyone access to our site’s database. That day is finally coming, and soon people will have the ability to update information on all our site’s featured officers using special tools that are currently in development. I’m really looking forward to everything this could potentially become, and the information it could one day make available to all of us. I’ll explain more when it is ready for public use, but in the mean time, if anyone among you with good Three Kingdoms knowledge would like to start participating now, please send me an email or post in this discussion thread, which is dedicated to the upcoming project. I truly hope a few people are interested.

The Quiz Project and the quiz question submission form are now functional again.

In the Novel and History section, new Sanguo yanyi biographies by Sam Wrest for Bao Xin, Deng Zhong, and Wang Shuang (Ziquan) have all been added. Bu Zhi (Zishan)’s Sanguozhi biography, Zuo Ci (Yuanfang)’s Sanguo yanyi biography, and Zhang Ni (Boqi)’s Comprehensive Officer Biography have also both been re-uploaded, as we’ve now discovered that it didn’t survive the server move a few months ago. Links to a collection of external Sanguozhi biographies have also been added. Shi Hui and Shi Yi were listed as having Sanguozhi biographies in our database, but we can’t find a record of either of them ever being on our site, so, unfortunately, they are both still missing in action (if you have any information on their whereabouts please let us know). I would like to thank Scholars of Shen Zhou member Cloud Strife specifically for all the errors and mistakes he has pointed out over the past month—your assistance is truly appreciated.

9/24/05: New Sanguo Yanyi biographies have been added from Sam Wrest, who has authored Xie Jing; Zhuge Ke (Yuanxun), a colorful and interesting character; Gao Lan; and Zhang Ni (Boqi), who is usually referred to as Zhang Yi (by Koei and usually on the internet). Mike Holmes has also authored the biography of Du Yu (Yuankai), the officer who led the unifying invasion of Wu.

7/14/05: Those among you who follow online Sanguozhi translations probably noticed the unexpected disappearance of the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, a small but excellent translation site that was maintained by Jack Yuan. Fortunately, his excellent work doesn’t have to vanish with it. After talking briefly with him I’ve uploaded his translations to the site so everyone can continue to learn from and enjoy them (see the list below). If you haven’t read these biographies through older links on this site, you’ll probably be thrilled to see some familiar names in the list. Sam Wrest’s fine new Cao Zhang (Ziwen) Sanguo Yanyi biography has also been uploaded for your viewing pleasure.

Jack Yuan’s Sanguozhi biography translations include: Scroll 1: Cao Cao (Mengde); Scroll 35: Zhuge Liang (Kongming), Zhuge Qiao (Bosong), Zhuge Zhan (Siyuan); Scroll 36: Guan Yu (Yunchang) (with Pei Songzhi’s notes, a new addition), Zhang Fei (Yide), Ma Chao (Mengqi), Huang Zhong (Hansheng), Zhao Yun (Zilong); and Scroll 46: Sun Jian (Wentai), and Sun Ce (Bofu). In addition, a new translation of Yuan Shao (Benchu) with Pei Songzhi’s notes has also been added. It is missing a few small parts, like Chen Lin’s long document, but still serves as a grand cache of information. If you haven’t read these biographies through the links that were on this site, you’ll probably be thrilled to see some familiar names in the list.

7/8/05: A short while ago the wonderful Lady Wu assembled The Definitive Guide to Names and Style Names, which is now online in the Novel and History Section. If you’ve ever wondered about things like what style names are, how parents name their children, why you can’t the actual names of the era’s women, or what those strange names Emperors have are, you will absolutely love this guide. Two new Sanguo yanyi biographies by Sam Wrest, Wu Ban (Yuanxiong) and Guan Ping (a heavily requested work), are also now available for your viewing pleasure.

3/18/05: Complete rewrite of the novel and history home page!

3/16/05: New Sanguo Yanyi biographies for Gongsun Yue, Qu Yi, and Jiang Bin have been added, all by Sam Wrest. Down the road you can look forward to a few new historical biographies as well.

3/15/05: New Sanguo Yanyi biographies of Zu Mao (Darong), Jiang Shu, and Zou Jing are available for your viewing pleasure; each by Sam Wrest. Today also marks the 1785th anniversary of Cao Cao’s death!

3/1/05: Presenting the Zuo Ci (Yuanfang) Sanguo Yanyi Biography. A historical translation of his Hou han shu record is due for a future update, along with a number of other biographies.

12/17/04: A number of external biographies have been added to the biographies home page and will appear with ‘External (Type)’ links. Users of non-Internet Explorer browsers can hold their cursor over their link to find out which site the biography is hosted at, and the ‘Type’ part of the link explains which kind of biography the link leads to (for example, SGZ for Sanguozhi). The quality of these external biographies ranges from fair to excellent, so don’t let one judge the others for you. I hope everyone enjoys this new addition.

The reign years home page has been completely rebuilt with new information.

12/6/04: As mentioned earlier, today brings some new Sanguo yanyi Biographies, all from Sam Wrest. They include: Chen Wu (Zilie), the well-known Wu officer; Wen Yang, an officer with quite a tale to tell about his service through Wei/Jin and Wu; and Fu Tong, Fu Qian’s father and an officer in service to Shu. Fu Qian’s biography has also been completely revised and is certainly worth a re-read for anyone interested in his biography.

During occasional freetime I am revising the biographies page to include links to biographies (ranging from fair to wonderful quality) at other locations around the internet. Most of them have been there for quite some time now, but when this is done it should give many of you a chance to read some new material you might not have seen before. More on this when it is complete.

12/3/04: I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! The site may have seemed quiet over the last month, but that certainly wasn’t the case as some of you may have noticed. A good amount of time has been spent moving most of our officer information into a database. That may sound boring, but it enables us to add much more functionality to the site, makes updates much easier, and makes new projects possible when they wouldn’t have been realistic before.

What good does this do you now? Have a look at the Officer Style Name Reference List, the Hanzi Project, the Biographies (by Type) and the Biographies (by Kingdom) sections for examples. You can now search through content on each of those pages (even using regular expressions if you know how), giving you a chance to access the content you want much faster. You may also bookmark your results. Down the road you’ll see some other fun new additions (and a few new biographies in the next update). Please note that there may be some broken links at this time. If you find any of them, please let me know.

11/10/04: New Sanguo yanyi biographies for Zhuge Zhan (Siyuan), Zhuge Liang’s son, and Zhuge Shang, Zhuge Zhan’s oldest son, have both been added to the biographies page. The story of their fight in the final decline of Shu is dramatic to say the least, or perhaps even sad for people that are fond of the kingdom. Both biographies are by Sam Wrest.

11/4/04: New Sanguo yanyi biographies authored by Sam Wrest have been added for Fu Qian, an often-overlooked Shu officer, and the even more unknown Lu Xun of Shu. Comprehensive Officer Biographies have also been authored for Sun Ben (Boyang), Sun Fu (Guoyi), and Sun He (Bohai), none of which appear in any Three Kingdoms games, and Sun Huan (Shuwu) along with the talented Lu Fan (Ziheng); all officers of Wu.

10/28/04: New Sanguo yanyi biographies for Wu Lan, Lei Tong, and He Man have been added to the biographies section, all authored by Mike Holmes. The links page has also received some small updates.

9/11/04: A new Sanguozhi biography translation from Lady Wu, Bu Zhi (Zishan), is now available. Additionally, new Sanguo yanyi biographies for Liu Pi (the Yellow Turban) and Zhuge Jin (Ziyu) (Zhuge Liang’s brother) are also online, both authored by Mike Holmes.

Today also marks the introduction of the new Romance of the Three Kingdoms Event Summary Project. This page lists ‘biographies’ for various Three Kingdoms events as they appeared in the novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms (meaning they may include fictional information, which will frequently be documented in the notes). I prepared three myself: Three Brothers’ Oath in the Peach Tree Garden, Lü Bu Saves Liu Bei With a Feat of Marksmanship, and In a Plum Garden, Cao Cao Discusses Heroes. If you enjoy writing, you can submit your own. Instructions are available on the events home page.

8/22/04: Presenting a new Sanguo yanyi biography for Han Sui (Wenyue), authored by Morgan Evans, and the new Sanguozhi biography of Xun Yu (Wenruo), translated by Lady Wu. The Xun Yu biography is very large, and anybody who likes to read about Wei certainly shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to read it, as Xun Yu was one of the most important people in the development of Cao Cao’s kingdom. Slowly but surely, the biographies on this site continue to be updated to the new standard format—some of you may have noticed changes along the way.

Sun Yu (Zhongyi)’s Sanguozhi biography, translated by Lady Wu, has also been added.

8/16/04: New Sanguo yanyi biographies for Li Ru, by Mike Holmes and Morgan Evans, and Ma Teng (Shoucheng), by Morgan.

8/10/04: New Sanguo yanyi biographies for Ji Ling by Mike Holmes and Pang De (Lingming) by Morgan Evans.

8/7/04: Presenting new Sanguo yanyi biographies for Yan Liang and Wen Chou, by Morgan Evans.

8/3/04: Here’s a fun update for those of you who enjoy looking into the history or story behind officers. New Sanguozhi biographies for both Ling Tong (Gongji) and Lü Meng (Ziming) have been added, both translated by Lady Wu. The Officer Life Chronologies of Liu Shan (Gongsi) and Cao Cao (Mengde) have both been completely revised. Also from Morgan Evans, three new Sanguo yanyi biographies: Hua Xiong, King Meng Huo, and the second installment of Cao Cao (Mengde). And finally, after a friendly email from Amanda, I tossed the Qiao Sisters (Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao) biography together myself, though given the trend of requests I’m sure many of you will enjoy it. A few more biographies will be posted in upcoming days.

7/26/04: A new Sanguo yanyi biography, Man Chong (Boning), is now available for your viewing pleasure. It features what is the third remake of our biography notes approach, suggested by Morgan Evans (also the author of this biography). Click note links in the biography to toggle requested content into view below the paragraph in question, and click a second time to hide again. Feedback is welcome, of course, but pending no major problems this new method will gradually be implemented to supplant the previous two approaches we’ve used. Notes should always display when printing.

4/30/04: Sanguo yanyi biographies for Zhang Rang (the palace attendant in He Jin’s time), King Shamoke, King Wutugu, and Cao Cao (Mengde) by Morgan Evans have been uploaded for your viewing pleasure. Cao Cao’s biography is very large (over 30 pages in Word, 100Kbs in HTML) and this is the first of multiple installments. The rest of his biography will come in future as Morgan completes them.

4/18/04: First, I would like to inform those of you that do not yet know of Dr. Rafe de Crespigny’s decision to put many of his marvelous Han and Three Kingdoms books online in PDF format for free download. Included among these wonderful works is the highly sought after and out-of-print Generals of the South. If you are interested in studying the history behind Romance of the Three Kingdoms I strongly suggest reading this material. I have linked to individual publications which are particularly relevant, and to the publications list itself, in the ‘Good Reading’ section of our links page.

Additionally, Liu Shan’s Life Chronology and Lady Zhurong’s Sanguo yanyi biography by Morgan Evans have been uploaded. Sun Shao’s Sanguo yanyi biography by Steven Trinki is also available for your viewing pleasure.

4/1/04: Presenting the Comprehensive Officer Biographies of Liu Yao (Zhengli) along with updates to Empress He and Emperor Shao. Finally, enjoy Zhang Liao (Wenyuan)’s Sanguozhi biography translated by Jonathan Wu.

3/6/04: Emperor Shao (Liu Bian)’s Comprehensive Officer Biography by Jonathan Wu has been added, and Empress He’s has received a major update (like He Jin, it is basically a whole new biography). Enjoy!

3/5/04: Cao Cao (Mengde)’s Life Chronology by Morgan Evans has been added to the biography section.

3/4/04: He Jin (Suigao)’s Comprehensive Officer Biography by Jonathan Wu has received a major update and has essentially become a new biography.

2/27/04: Yu Jin (Wenze)'s Sanguozhi biography translated by Sun Zhongmou has been added. Wei Yan (Wenchang)'s Sanguo yanyi biography compiled by Wizardman has been added. The Hanzi Project has been updated once again with new content and corrections, notes are being added in places, instructions on how to submit to the project are coming soon.

2/19/04: Jia Xu (Wenhe)’s Sanguozhi biography, translated by Lady Wu, is now online for your viewing pleasure. I was more than overjoyed to see this one myself. Additionally, work has gone into expanding the Hanzi Project’s potential after suggestions from WilliamL which accompanied a new submission. I’ve finished working on the idea, and soon a page with submission instructions related to the new change will be available.

2/17/04: More Sanguozhi biography translations from Jiuwan, for your viewing pleasure: Cao Ang (Zixiu), Cao Chong (Cangshu), Cao Shuo, Cao Xiong, and Yang Yi (Weigong).

2/16/04: Additional time spent to bring you more of the Sanguozhi biography translations which are floating around on the Internet, today four more additions from Jiuwan’s fine collection: Dian Wei (Zimian), Pang De (Lingming), Xu Chu (Zhongkang), and Zhang He (Junyi). More to come.

2/15/04: Zhang Xiu, Fei Yi (Wenwei), and Wu Can (Kongxiu)’s Sanguozhi biographies have been translated by Lady Wu and placed online. Sun Ce (Bofu)’s Sanguo yanyi biography has been authored by Morgan Evans and is also online.  Finally, the old Hanzi project has now been essentially ‘completed’.  It now features over 700 names, including nearly every Romance of the Three Kingdoms officer you might be familiar with, and has now been divided into sub-sections (in alphabetical order).  We’re also adding common names (such as Luo Guanzhong) and books (like Sanguozhi) to the main page.  There are still a few bumps to iron out, and I’m sure there’s an error or two to hunt down, but I’m sure those of you who are interested in it will be quite pleased.  And for those of you who don’t know, the decimal entities can be pasted into most online forums and some chat clients to display the actual Chinese characters without a Chinese language input tool.

2/10/04: After some testing and research, Lu Xun (Boyan)’s Sanguozhi biography has been converted to HTML and placed online. More than an HTML conversion from the PDF file, this update also includes fixes and improvements made by Lady Wu (translator). This method of displaying notes is different from what we’ve used here in the past (but much more compatible with large biographies) and may be considered for all future additions. If you have concerned or thoughts, for or against the new biography presentation method, please send me an email.

2/3/04: Pan Zhang (Wengui), Zong Yu (Deyan), Deng Zhi (Bomiao), and Chen Zhen (Xiaoqi)’s Sanguozhi biographies translated by Lady Wu have been added.

1/16/04: Mi Heng (Zhengping)’s Sanguo yanyi biography by James Peirce been added.

1/13/04: Sun Yi (Shubi)’s Sanguo yanyi biography by Steven Trinkl been added.

1/12/04: Cao Pi (Zihuan)’s Comprehensive Officer Biograpy. has been updated by Jonathan Wu.

1/10/04: Sanguozhi biography updates: Cao Xiu (Wenlie)’s biography translated by Lady Wu and Shi Xie (Weiyan)’s biography translated by Jiuwan have been added. Guan Yu (Yunchang), Zhang Fei (Yide), Zhao Yun (Zilong), Ma Chao (Mengqi), and Huang Zhong (Hansheng), all translated by Sonken, have been updated with changes ranging from additions of Pei Songzhi’s notes to corrections and edits.

1/4/04: The Officer English to Chinese (Hanzi) Conversion Project has been revised from the ground up for easier reading and the separate Decimal page is now offline (all of that information now included on the main project page). A new comprehensive Chronology of Battles from the Three Kingdoms Era has been posted as well (credit to Duke of Goats) and includes numerous battles sorted by date and listed by English and Chinese names.

12/29/03: Hua Tuo (Yuanhua)’s Sanguozhi biography translated by Jiuwan has been added.

12/23/03: Huang Gai (Gongfu)’s Sanguozhi biography translated by Lady Wu and has been added, and the translation of Taishi Ci (Ziyi) has been updated, and now includes Pei Songzhi’s notes. After some research I have done, I also decided to update Yuan Shao (Benchu)’s Comprehensive Officer Biograpy. There may be yet another update to that biography in the future as well.

12/8/03: Cai Yan (Wenji)’s Comprehensive Officer Biograpy, by Jonathan Wu has been added.

12/4/03: Lu Xun (Boyan)’s Sanguozhi biography, in PDF format, translated by Lady Wu and Sonken has been added.

11/9/03: Sun Jian (Wentai)’s Sanguo yanyi biography by Morgan Evans has been added.

11/4/03: Gongsun Zan (Bogui)’s Sanguo yanyi biography by Morgan Evans has been added.

8/28/03: Xu Sheng (Wenxiang)’s Sanguozhi biography translated by Han Xin and Dong Zhuo (Zhongyin) and Diao Chan (also known as Sable Cicada)’s Sanguo yanyi biography authored by Morgan Evans have both been completed.

8/6/03: Ding Feng (Chengyuan)’s Sanguozhi biography translated by Han Xin has been added.

8/4/03: Wang Ping (Zijun)’s Sanguozhi biography by Battleroyale has been added. Kong Zhengshu has also prepared a marvelous Cao/Xiahou Family Tree that is currently available in a plain text document. The permanent link is in the novel and history section under the ‘Images/Family Trees’ header on the right-hand menu.

7/31/03: Guo Jia (Fengxiao)’s Sanguo yanyi biography by Dan Liao has been added.

5/24/03: About two hundred requests later, I have taken a fair chunk of time out to assemble everything I could about Empress Zhen (Zhen Ji for you Koei gamers) and put it into a Comprehensive Officer Biography. For the purists, here is her Sanguozhi biography. I will probably add more to the former soon, both may be considered historical.

5/12/03: Lü Bu (Fengxian)’s Sanguozhi biography has been completed and edited, and is now available for your viewing pleasure. Some of you may have seen it under development at the Scholars of Shen Zhou, but it is now a finely polished beast, complete with Pei Songzhi’s commentary. There are still two things to do in the footnotes, and if you want to assist with that drop us a line.

5/5/03: The officer name Hanzi project has been updated again (thanks to WilliamL). Some of the more remote names now feature a (?) next to them, you can hover over the (?) for a description of who the officer is. Internet Explorer does not yet support the HTML for this feature.

3/17/03: Our Officer Name and Hanzi Guide has been updated again with a collection of new entries, this time many members of the Zhuge family (thank you, William L.). Battleroyale’s “Brief Chronology of Zhuge Liang’s Life” has also been added (you can access the chronology section using the biography sub-menu of this section’s pages).

3/16/03: The Officer Name and Style Hanzi Guide has been updated with some corrections and new content (thank you Lady Wu and DarkAnthem).

3/14/03: Two new additions today: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Han, an essay by Jonathan Wu, and a comprehensive Wade-Giles reading guide by Lady Wu (good to have if you are reading one of the older copies of the novel or other Chinese-English books). We hope you enjoy them.

Thanks to some timely boredom, I am presenting two of our projects ahead of schedule. The first is a large listing of officer names, styles, and Chinese Hanzi that correspond with them (Hanzi are Chinese characters, you must have Chinese language support installed to view them). The second also begins with the names and styles, but instead of Hanzi it presented the Web-ready decimal values that you can enter into a modern forum’s new post form or into any HTML document’s source code. If you see any mistakes on these pages, please let us know, and if you have new contributions for them, even if it is just one name, please contact me.

3/4/03: Dian Wei (Ziman)’s Sanguo yanyi biography has been completed by Dan Liao.

2/26/03: Bu Zhi (Zishan) and Lu Su (Zijing)’s Comprehensive Officer Biographies have bother been reworked from the ground up. ZhaoZilong (formerly Ash) has also submitted a new Sanguo yanyi biography, Han Xuan. Enjoy!

2/23/03: Xiahou En’s new Sanguo yanyi biography by Ash has been added. Cheng Pu (Demou)’s Comprehensive Officer Biography has been revised from the ground up by Jonathan Wu.

2/21/02: Zhou Yu (Gongjin)’s Comprehensive Officer Biography has been updated.

2/18/03: The Sanguozhi and Comprehensive Officer Biography sections have been fully converted to the new layout. All Comprehensive Officer Biographies have received basic updates (dates, Chinese names, etc.). All Sanguozhi biographies have been edited for uniformity, and some of them have new content. Notable improvements have been made to both sections.

Li Yan (Zhengfang) and Ma Su (Youchang)’s Sanguozhi biographies have been completed by DarkAnthem.

Emperor Xian (Liu Xie)’s Comprehensive Officer Biography has been completed by Jonathan Wu. In addition, Liu Shan (Gongsi), Zhu Ju (Zifan), Zhu Jun (Gongwei), and Zhu Zhi (Junli)’s biographies have been revised. Major updates have been made to Sun Jian (Wentai) and Sun Ce (Bofu), and they are certainly worth taking a look at.

Gan Ning (Xingba)’s Sanguo yanyi biography is complete (by Dan Liao).

Some new photos have been added to the Fu Jie (Tiger Tally) page.

2/5/03: Sun Jian (Wentai), a new Comprehensive officer Biography by Jonathan Wu (and one of the best yet) is now online.

1/20/03: Zhang Yi (Bogong)’s Sanguozhi biography has been translated by Lady Wu and uploaded.

1/17/03: Liao Hua (Yuanjian)’s Sanguozhi biography was completed by Lady Wu and Jonathan Wu finished Comprehensive Officer Biographies for Sun Ce (Bofu) and Taishi Ci (Ziyi) and Sun Quan (Zhongmou)’s has also been revised.

1/6/03: Zhao Yun (Zilong)’s Sanguozhi biography (translation by Sonken) and Liu Bang’s historical biography (by Jonathan Wu) have both received full revisions and include new content.

12/22/02: Liu Biao (Jingsheng), a new Sanguozhi biography by Battleroyale has been completed.

11/29/02: New Comprehensive Officer Biographies have been completed: Guo Huai (Boji), Liu Shan (Gongsi), Wei Yan (Wenchang), and Zhang Fei (Yide). Guan Xing (Xingguo) has been revised. Portraits and hanzi have also been added to some of the older biographies (we will do this a few more times until all are up to date).

11/24/02: Presenting new Comprehensive Officer Biographies for Cao Zhen (Zidan), Dian Wei (Ziman), and Sima Yi (Zhongda). Also notice that we listed a style name with Dian Wei: Ziman. This may come as pleasant news considering the fact that it was previously unknown to most, it has been added to the Style Name list.

11/20/02: New Comprehensive Officer Biographies by Jonathan Wu include Guo Jia (Fengxiao), Liu Ye (Ziyang), Yuan Shao (Benchu), Zang Ba (Xuangao), and the often-requested Zhang Liao (Wenyuan).

The Zhuge Family Tree has been prepared and uploaded; you can access it in the future through the novel and history section right-hand menu.

11/16/02: And for the third day in a row we are updating Jonathan Wu’s Comprehensive Officer Biography section, this time with the additions of Xu Huang (Gongming), Yuan Shu (Gonglu), Yue Jin (Wenqian), and Zhang He (Junyi). We would also like to point out there earlier we posted in incorrect link to Cao Ren’s Sanguozhi biography; this has been fixed.

11/15/02: Cao Hong (Zilian), a new Sanguozhi (SGZ) translation by Lady Wu has been uploaded. New Comprehensive Officer Biographies have been completed by Jonathan Wu and include He Jin (Suigao), He Miao, Li Dian (Mancheng), and Yu Jin (Wenze). With this update we also introduce the new ‘Family’ header.

The Sun Family Tree by Lady Wu has been completed. Zhuge family tree is coming soon. Best if viewed at 800x600 resolution or higher. Link can be found on the right-hand menu in the novel and history section under “Family Trees”.

Officer Ranks by Reign Year (translations by Lady Wu) – a new addition to the novel and history section – starts with the kingdom of Shu. You may view the large data table in the provided inline frame, or in a new window. Wei and Wu may be coming in the future. The link, “Officer Ranks by Year”, can be found under the “Novel and History” header in the novel section.

11/14/02: Cao Ren (Zixiao), a new Sanguozhi biography by Lady Wu, and Pan Zhang (Wenqui), a new Comprehensive Officer Biography by Jonathan Wu have been uploaded. Lu Xun (Boyan) and Empress He’s Comprehensive Officer Biographies have also been updated.

And for all those Dynasty Warriors 3 fans out there, we are including something new. Biographies for Fu Xi and Nu Wa have been uploaded, you can finally figure out who they were and why they can’t be found in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel. Links to them can be found here on the biographies page and on all Dynasty Warriors 3 pages.

11/6/02: Presenting two new Sanguozhi (SGZ) translations by Lady Wu: Xiang Lang (Juda), and Xiang Chong, one new Comprehensive Officer Biography from the desk of Jonathan Wu: Empress He, and one new Sanguo yanyi (SGYY) biography by Dan Liao: He Jin (Suigao).

11/4/02: Today yield three more Comprehensive Officer Biography project biographies: Mi Fang (Zifang), Mi Zhu (Zizhong), and Pang Tong (Shiyuan).

10/29/02: Presenting five new biographies in the Comprehensive Officer Biography project, proceeding as always in no particular order: Zhang Yi (Boqi), Zhang Zhao (Zibu), Zhu Ju (Zifan), Zhu Jun (Gongwei), Zhu Zhi (Junli). Enjoy!

10/27/02: Taishi Ci (Ziyi)’s Sanguozhi biography (translated by Lady Wu) has been uploaded and listed on the biographies page. The footnotes will be included soon, and there is one sentence that we would like feedback on from viewers who can read the Sanguozhi (in the footer).

10/12/02: The Sanguo yanyi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) book introduction has been completed and uploaded with assistance from the highly respectable Lady Wu. Take a look if you like.

10/11/02: Yuan Shao (Benchu)’s Sanguozhi biography (translated by Battleroyale) has been added to the biographies page along with Comprehensive Officer Biographies for Huang Zhong (Hansheng) and Xu Chu (Zhongkang), that’s Xu Zhu for the Koei fans out there.

10/9/02: Zhou Yu (Gongjin)’s Sanguozhi biography translation has been updated by Battleroyale. Zhao Yun (Zilong)’s Comprehensive Officer Biography has been completed and uploaded. We are now including the Chinese hanzi in addition to English for officer names in these biographies.

10/1/02: Lady Wu has updated her wonderful Sanguozhi translations of Cheng Pu (Demou), Han Dang (Yigong), and Jiang Qin (Gongyi). She has also finished translating Zhou Tai (Youping)’s biography, take a look, he was a great fellow.

Five more Comprehensive Officer Biographies by Jonathan Wu have also been prepared and uploaded: Gan Ning (Xingba), Guan Xing (Xingguo), Li Yan (Zhengfang), Yan Yan, and Zhou Tai (Youping).

9/28/02: Presenting a list of Han reign years (with names in both English and Chinese) brought to you by the good fellow Jonathan Wu. Wei, Shu, Wu, and Jin may be coming around the corner. The link has been placed under “Novel and History” on the right-hand menu.

9/19/02: It has been requested that the Zhuge Liang (Kongming) and Zhou Yu (Gongjin) Comprehensive Officer Biographies (by Jonathan Wu) be posted sooner than scheduled, so I put down Dynasty Tactics for a moment and prepared them for the Internet. Enjoy! A few minor biography errors and typos were also corrected.

9/16/02: New Sanguozhi biography translations by Lady Wu have been added: Jian Yong (Xianhe), Mi Fang (Zifang), Mi Zhu (Zizhong), and Sun Qian (Gongyou).

9/14/02: New Comprehensive Officer biographies include Ling Tong, Lu Su, and Lu Xun.

9/13/02: New Comprehensive Officer biographies include Guo Si, Han Dang, Han Fu, Huang Gai, and Jiang Qin.

9/12/02: New Comprehensive Officer biographies include Cao Pi, Chen Jiao, Cheng Yu, Chun Yuqiong, and Guan Yu.

9/11/02: The biographies sections have been completely redesigned and a new type of biography (the Comprehensive Officer Record) has been started. There are now two biographies pages, one that lists all biographies by kingdom (e.g. Wei, Shu, Wu) and another than lists all biographies by type (e.g. Original, SGZ, SGYY). New Comprehensive Officer biographies include Cao Cao, Cao Chun, Cao Hong, Cao Ren, Liu Bei, Bu Zhi, Cheng Pu, Ding Feng, Sun Quan, and Chen Gong.

9/1/02: Gan Ning’s Sanguozhi biography, translated by Lady Wu, is now online in the Sanguozhi biographies section.

8/26/02: Introducing a new Sanguo yanyi officer biography: Taishi Ci (Ziyi) by Dan Liao, a new Kongming's Archives contributor.

7/27/02: Introductions for the Jin and Han Dynasties are now online. They have been added to the right-hand menu along with Wei, Shu, and Wu.

7/27/02: New Eastern Han emperor biographies by Jonathan Wu: Liu Da, Liu Long, Liu Yu, and Liu Zhao.

7/22/02: New Sanguozhi biography translation by Duke of Goats: Zhu Ran. New full-length Sanguo yanyi biography by Jonathan Wu: Lü Bu.

7/8/02: Introductions for the kingdoms of Wei, Wu, and Shu are now online. All by Jonathan Wu. They are partial drafts and revisions will be made soon. Take a look.

6/24/02: Han Mingdi (Liu Xang), a new historical ruler biographies by Jonathan Wu, is now online. New Sanguozhi biographies translated by Lady Wu: Lady Pan, Lady Wang (of Langya), Lady Wang (of Nanyang), Lady Wu, Lady Xie, and Lady Xu (all Wu biographies).

6/18/02: new Sanguo Zhi biography translated by BattleRoyal: Lu Meng. New Sanguo Zhi biography translated by HolyMan: Xiahou Dun.

6/11/02: new historical ruler biographies by Sean Williams: Sima Yao (Wudi), and Sima Dezong (Andi).

6/8/02: new historical ruler biographies by Sean Williams: Sima Rui (Yuandi). Sima Zhi, Sima Zhong, and Sima Lun have been updated.

6/2/02: new historical ruler biographies by Sean Williams: Sima Zhong (Huidi), Sima Zhi (Huaidi).

6/1/02: Sima Lun (Zhao Wang)’s biography by Sean Williams is now online.

5/30/02: new Sanguo Zhi biography translated by Lady Wu: Zhang Zhao.

5/26/02: I have completely revised the layout of this page. Now important information is easier to get to and text is more concise and informative.

5/25/02: new historical biographies by : Wang Mang and the Later Han’s Liu Xiu. Empress Dowager Lü’s biography has been updated and made independent of Liu Bang’s. Some section error cleanup occurred on many pages.

5/24/02: new Digital Translated Books option on the right hand menu. The first feature is the .zip archive of threekingdoms.com’s translation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The second is an external site that features an online version of the Art of War, by Sun Tzu. The third is an online version of Zhuge Liang’s The Way of the General, also known as Mastering the Art of War. Liu Ying (Hui-di)’s historical biography by is now online. New Sanguo Zhi biography translated by Sonken: Ma Chao.

5/22/02: presenting a new chronology of major events (SGYY) by . Revised text in several parts of this section, including this page, to convey more information and improve readability.

5/21/02: Liu Jizi (Pingdi)’s biography by Jonathan Wu is now online (and readability for pages like this has been improved).

5/20/02: Liu Bang’s biography in the novel and history section has been updated.

5/19/02: new Sanguo Zhi biography translated by Sonken: Zhang Fei.

5/18/02: new Sanguo Zhi biography translated by Sonken: Guan Yu.

5/16/02: new Sanguo Zhi biographies translated by Lady Wu: Cao Zhi, Cheng Pu, Han Dang, and Jiang Qin. New Sanguo Zhi biographies translated by Sonken: Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun.

5/15/02: Liu Ying (Ruzi)’s biography by Jonathan Wu is now online.

5/13/02: Emperor Liu Zhe’s historical biography has been updated. An update archives page has been created for old section updates. Main page formatting and layout improved.

5/12/02: The new Han, Wei, Wu, Shu, Wu, and Jin Officer and Ruler Biography page is now online. It currently features many Han Dynasty biographies by Jonathan Wu, but as time goes by we will add many biographies for all kingdoms to this page. If you want to write biographies for us please let me know.

5/11/02: Chen Qiang’s, translation of Gu Yong’s Sanguo Zhi biography has been updated. Added Jack Yuan’s Three Kingdoms Chronicles to the links page, a great source for some high quality translated Sanguo Zhi bios, an excellent read and a Web page to keep an eye on.

5/6/02: added new essay, “From Unity to Division”, by Sean Williams to the essays and writings section. Fixed a few incorrect links.

5/5/02: site navigation has been revised. I suspect you will now have a much easier time finding your way around in Kongming’s Archives. Created a new credits page. Created a requests page.

5/3/02: added Jiang Wan and Gu Yongs’ SGZ biographies (thanks to Chen Qiang, the translator).

5/2/02: the novel and history home page has been cleaned up, all text has been revised. The submitted essays and writings page has now gone online (if you have anything to contribute send it to me). Moved the SGZ translation page and updated the menus (for easier navigation).

5/1/02: added SGZ biography translations for Chen Tai, Deng Ai, Jiang Wei, and Zhou Yu (thanks to Battleroyale, the translator). Completed the essays and writings submissions section, updated Jonathan Wu’s introduction. Added a page to explain how you can submit work to this site and added a submissions FAQ. General section cleanup. Quite a bit of additional material will be posted in the days to come.

4/30/02: finished a page that contains officer names and styles for cross reference. Also included on this page you will find a description of the various names an officer might have, what those names are used for and how they got them, and what sort of officers might or might not have them in the first place.

4/25/02: added a wonderful novel & history page introduction courtesy of my friend Jonathan Wu. Replaced the title menu colors and backgrounds (to the clouded wood color and effect you see now). I liked the redwood, but I think (and so do some viewers) that it contrasted too much with the rest of the page. Can’t have that, now can we?

4/23/02: section completed and fist goes online. Basic layout includes Sanguo Zhi (SGZ) biographies page, relevant links, and a superb map originally created by William (of Sanguo ONline) found on the right-hand menu. A great deal of content will be appearing here in the days to come.