Frequently asked questions

Answers are generated only from a local library of source cards drawn from Records of the Three Kingdoms and related texts, and every reply lists the cards it relied on, linked to the original text. Literary inventions from the novel are kept in separate, clearly labeled sections. A language model can still make mistakes — treat the linked sources as the authority.

Each figure speaks only from what they could have known while alive. Cao Cao died in 220, so he has nothing to say about the fall of Shu-Han in 263. Later judgments appear as separate historian notes instead of the figure pretending to know the future.

No. The novel is a fourteenth-century work of historical fiction; the primary record is Chen Shou’s third-century Records of the Three Kingdoms with Pei Songzhi’s fifth-century annotations. Famous scenes like the empty-city stratagem are literary inventions, and this site marks them as such with links to the biographical evidence.

No. No verified likeness survives from the era. All portraits on this site are original creative illustrations in an ink-wash style and are labeled as such.

The atlas is an original schematic. Region shapes, rivers, and city positions show broad relations for browsing across seven snapshots from 190 to 280; they are not surveyed borders. Where the evidence is thin or contested, the map says so rather than inventing precision.

The whole site — pages, conversations, and source summaries — works in both English and Chinese. Use the language switch in the header at any time.

No. Three Kingdoms Chat is free to use, with no accounts and no paywall. Conversations are stored only in your own browser.

The source library cites Records of the Three Kingdoms, Pei Songzhi’s annotations, and related chronicles, with each card linking to the full text on Chinese Wikisource. The library covers the twenty published figures and the first set of campaigns; it is not a complete archive of everything that survives from the period.