Category talk:People of the Three Kingdoms

Latest comment: 18 years ago by Plastictv in topic Categorising of Three Kingdoms people

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This category was created to replace the former Heroes of the Three Kingdoms. The discussion leading up to the renaming is included below. --Plastictv 15:31, 18 August 2005 (UTC)Reply

Categorising of Three Kingdoms people

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What's the period associated with this category? Is it 184-280 (Yellow Turbans to defeat of Wu), or 220-280 (abdication of Xian to defeat of Wu)

If 184-280, then there is an overlap between this category and Han Dynasty in the years 184-220. Should people active during these years be placed in both categories, or just this one? If 220-280, this would mean that the likes of Cao Cao, Guan Yu and Zhou Yu, who are generally associated with Three Kingdoms, would be categorised only in Han Dynasty. My personal preference is for 184-280, with Han Dynasty covering everyone up to 184.--Omdal 03:31, 21 November 2005 (UTC)Reply

Strictly speaking a Chinese dynasty or historical period begins with the reign of its first sovereign. If you possess a standard Chinese dictionary, a timeline of Chinese history at the back would clearly define the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period as 220, the year in which Cao Pi declared himself the emperor of the Kingdom of Wei.
However, few, if any, dynastic transistions are well-defined. This ambiguity is especially pronounced in the shift from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period because of the practically powerless Emperor Xian and the massive scale of civil war.
My suggestion is to include these characters in the Three Kingdoms category only, as they are commonly considered by historians and laymen alike to belong to that era. Nonetheless, this is only a rule of the thumb as some people living during the 184–220 period are still more appropriately considered people of the Eastern Han Dynasty. --Plastictv 06:30, 21 November 2005 (UTC)Reply