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Hello, the Empire long divided must unite.

Long united must divide, thus it has ever been.

These are the opening words of romance of the three kingdoms,

one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature.

Written in the 14th century, in narrates events that happened more than a thousand years before,

when the hand-inistic collapse and three separate competing states emerged in China.

Full of vivid descriptions of battles and sharp military tactics,

it's a complex epic featuring hundreds of characters and stories that are familiar

to Chinese people who have not read the book.

The status of romance of the three kingdoms in Chinese culture has been compared to that of Homer in the West,

and it's regarded as one of the most influential works in China's literary canon.

It's been in print ever since it was first published.

When we to discuss romance of the three kingdoms are Francis Wood,

former lead curator of Chinese collections of the British Library,

great cluners, professor of the history of art at Oxford University,

and Margaret Hillenbrand, university lecturer in modern Chinese literature at Oxford University,

and fellow of one of college. Francis Wood, could you start by describing

what happened in the period of history covered by the novel,

the fall of the hand-inistic in the third century?

...