"Three Kingdoms", one of the Twenty-Four Histories, was written by Chen Shou, a historian of the Western Jin Dynasty. It records the chronological history of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Dong Wu during the Three Kingdoms period in China. It is one of the most highly rated "first four histories" among the Twenty-Four Histories. At that time, both Wei and Wu had historical books, such as the official "Wei Shu" compiled by Wang Shen, the privately written "Wei Lue" by Yu Guan, and the official compiled "Wu Shu" written by Wei Zhao. These three books should be the basic materials for Chen Shou to rely on. He collected them by himself and only got fifteen volumes. Chen Shou spent the first half of his life in the Shu Han Dynasty. After becoming an official, he was squeezed out by the eunuch Huang Hao and failed. After the fall of the Shu Han Dynasty, Chen Shou successively served as a writer. In his later years, he was demoted many times and criticized many times. After ten years of hard work, he completed the masterpiece "Three Kingdoms" in biographical history. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms was first circulated separately in three books: "Book of Wei", "Book of Shu" and "Book of Wu". In order to avoid confusion between Cao Wei's "Wei Shu" and the Northern Wei Dynasty's "Wei Shu" during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Northern Song Dynasty combined the three books into one book in the sixth year of Xianping (1003) and finally completed it. Therefore, "Three Kingdoms" is the product of cultural reintegration after the separation of the Three Kingdoms. This book completely narrates the historical picture of China's transition from division to reunification in the last hundred years from the end of the Han Dynasty to the beginning of the Jin Dynasty. "Three Kingdoms" is also the most special one among the Twenty-Four Histories because it is too brief and does not record the "table" of the lineage of princes and officials. It also does not record the "records" of economy, geography, officials, rituals and music, laws and calendars, etc. It does not conform to the general standards of official history established by "Historical Records" and "Hanshu".
