Editing Three Kingdoms (section)

==Periodization==
{{For timeline|Timeline of the Three Kingdoms period}}

There is no set time period for the era. The majority view uses the years 220–280 as endpoints, beginning with the abdication of the last Han emperor and ending with the reunification of China by the first Jin emperor. Strictly speaking, the Three Kingdoms, or independent states, only existed from the proclamation of the Eastern Wu ruler to be emperor in 229 until the downfall of [[Shu Han]] in 263. Interpretations of the period outside performative political acts push the beginning back into the later years of the Han, with the decline of the Han royal house.

Several other starting points for the period are given by Chinese historians: the [[Yellow Turban Rebellion]] in 184;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guo |first= Jian |publisher=Changchun Press |year=1999 |language=zh |script-title=zh:千秋興亡 |trans-title=Rise and Fall over Thousands of Autumns |author-mask=Guo Jian (郭建)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jiang |first=Lang |publisher=Xiandai chubanshe |year=2011 |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:184–280：三國原來這樣 |trans-title=184–280: It Turns Out the Three Kingdoms Were Like This |author-mask=Jiang Lang (姜狼)}}</ref> the year after the beginning of the rebellion, 185;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Han |first=Guopan  |publisher=Renmin chubanshe |year=1983 |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:魏晉南北朝史綱 |trans-title=Historical Highlights of the Six Dynasties |author-mask=Han Guopan (韓國磐)}}</ref> [[Dong Zhuo]] deposing [[Liu Bian|Emperor Shao of Han]] and enthroning [[Emperor Xian of Han]] in 189,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zhang |first=Binsheng |publisher=Chinese Culture University Press |year=1982 |location=Taipei |language=zh |script-title=zh:魏晉南北朝政治史 |trans-title=Administrative History of the Six Dynasties |author-mask=Zhang Binsheng (張儐生)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |publisher=Economics Daily Press |year=1998 |editor-last=Gao |editor-first=Min |editor-mask=Gao Min (高敏) |location=Hong Kong |language=zh |script-title=zh:中國經濟通史 魏晉南北朝經濟卷 |trans-title=The Complete Economic History of China: Economy of the Six Dynasties}}</ref> Dong Zhuo sacking [[Luoyang]] and moving the capital to [[Chang'an]] in 190,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Luo |first=Kun |publisher=Military Science Press |year=1998 |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:中國軍事通史 三國軍事史 |trans-title=The Complete Military History of China: Three Kingdoms Military History |author-mask=Luo Kun (羅琨) |display-authors=etal}}</ref> or [[Cao Cao]] placing the emperor under his control in [[Xuchang]] in 196.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zhu |first=Dawei |publisher=Chinese Academy of Social Sciences |year=1998 |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:魏晉南北朝社會生活史 |trans-title=The Social History of the Six Dynasties |author-mask=Zhu Dawei (朱大渭) |display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Zhang |first=Wenqiang |publisher=Renmin chubanshe |year=1994 |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:中國魏晉南北朝軍事史 |trans-title=China's Six Dynasties Military History |author-mask=Zhang Wenqiang (張文強)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Zhang |first1=Chengzong |last2=Wei |first2=Xiangdong |publisher=Shanghai People's Press |year=2001 |language=zh |script-title=zh:中國風俗通史 魏晉南北朝卷 |trans-title=The Complete History of Chinese Customs: Six Dynasties |author-mask1=Zhang Chengzong (張承宗); |author-mask2=Wei Xiangdong (魏向東)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=He |first=Dezhang |publisher=Renmin chubanshe |year=1994 |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:中國魏晉南北朝政治史（百卷本國全史第7） |trans-title=China's Six Dynasties Administrative History (This Nation's Total History in 100 Volumes, no 7) |author-mask=He Dezhang (何德章)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wang |first=Lihua (王利華) |publisher=Chinese Agricultural Press |year=2009 |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:中國農業通史 魏晉南北朝卷 |trans-title=The Complete History of Chinese Agriculture: Six Dynasties |author-mask=Wang Lihua (王利華) |display-authors=etal}}</ref>

As the Jin unification was itself short-lived, lasting at least until the independence of the [[Cheng-Han]] and [[Han-Zhao]] states in 304, the entire period between the fall of Han and the [[Sui dynasty|Sui]] unification (220–589) is sometimes periodised together as "the period of disunity", "Wei, Jin, [[Northern and Southern dynasties]]" (or even "Northern and Southern dynasties" alone, though that more commonly means 420–589 between Jin and Sui), or "the [[Six Dynasties]] period".<ref name="roberts">{{cite book |first=Moss |last=Roberts |title=Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sc-shy_ZOMkC |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1991 |isbn=0-520-22503-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=Endymion |title=Chinese history: A manual |year=2000 |publisher=Harvard University, Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=978-0-674-00249-4 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ERnrQq0bsPYC&pg=PA11}}</ref>