Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast

By: John Zhu
  • Summary

  • A retelling of the classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms in a way that’s more accessible to a Western audience. See 3kingdomspodcast.com for more.
    John Zhu 2014
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Episodes
  • Announcement: 10 Years of Podcasting
    2 mins
  • Announcement: ”Investiture of the Gods” Launched
    Oct 17 2022

    Hi everyone. I want to let you know that I have posted the first episodes of Investiture of the Gods on the Chinese Lore Podcast. If you are not yet subscribed to that show, go to chineselore.com. You will find links to the show on various podcast platforms and on YouTube, as well as links to find me on social media and to review and support the show. If you like the podcast, a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts would be much appreciated. As always, thanks for listening!

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    1 min
  • Announcement: May 24 Live Interview
    May 14 2022

    Hi everyone. I want to let you know that on May 24, I will be part of a panel of Asian podcasters on Podbean’s Storytelling Podcast Week Live show. It’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and this live show will be highlighting AAPI podcasters. We will be discussing our podcasts, the stories behind our stories, and our experiences as podcasters. I’m looking forward to it, and I hope you will tune in as well. The show will be live on May 24 at 3 p.m. eastern time. I have included the registration link with this announcement on my podcasts’ websites, outlawsofthemarsh.com and 3kingdomspodcast.com. See you there!

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    1 min

What listeners say about Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast

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One of the best stories ever written brought to life

Romance of the three kingdoms is a great story based on a real time period in Chinese history. Because it was written in Chinese so many years ago there is a lot that does not translate. Add to it cultural aspects and some parts can be pretty confusing. This podcast tells the story and explains things that would otherwise go unnoticed or misunderstood.

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A great podcast.

I've only just started listening, but so far I'm having lots of fun.
This podcast is intended for people who've never read The Three Kingdoms, and aren't very familiar with the story.

the only real complaint I have is that for some reason Audible skips some episodes. The list goes from 027, and jump to 041 for no obvious reason. Fortunately, you can still find the missing episodes on the web site.

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Excellent

Super grateful that this podcasts has made the novel accessible to me. I don’t speak Chinese, and I have been struggling to find an unabridged English copy of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms

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Fresh Telling of a Classic Novel

This was excellent. I have read the novel four times in three different translations (C.H, Brewitt-Taylor, Moss Roberts Abridged and Moss Roberts Unabridged), this telling streamlines the story adds helpful asides and adds backstory to historical references that I would just gloss over when I read it. I didn't even realize how many references I did gloss over until this podcast.

One of the best things about this podcast is omitting unimportant names. When you read on your own you get bombarded with long lists of names with no idea who is going to be important and who is just a name drop. Also the old comic book * asides, as in *see episode 35 make referencing past events easier.

Finally I had to wait till I listened to the whole podcast before reviewing. The most famous events happen before the Battle of Wu Zhang Plains and the aftermath. After that most of the starting characters have died and a whole crew of new characters are introduced. Also the time frame expands while the events seem to drag so that makes reading the last few chapters more difficult. Having it told made that much easier.

Now I'm looking forward to the Water Margin (known as Suikoden in Japanese) retelling.

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Thank you John Zhu

I was obsessed with the Dynasty Warriors franchise games growing up - so much so that I would read the encylopedia sections of the games to learn more about the generals. It wasn't until I was older that I realized the game was based on real events -- this podcast has been so interesting and I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to record it and share it with the world.

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Bite-sized episodes of a huge epic

Each episode helps bring each moment and character to life in a story filled with dozens of characters and events to keep things organized.

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Way Beeter Than Game of Thrones

I'm just beginning to learn about Chinese history and saw this book referenced a couple times. All the translated book reviews said the books were horrible and unreadable. Then I lucked into this podcast. I am seriously hooked. Narrator is amazing and I love the book itself. So glad it's made available to English listeners

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just starting

just starting but very excited to hear this story for the first time from the horses mouth (as I see it)..

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Just what the doctor ordered

Appreciate the hard work that went into this.
Very comprehensive. It's like listening to a friend.

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So Enjoyable

John makes this lengthy volume so accessible to those of us who do nay read Chinese.

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