Editing Romance of the Three Kingdoms (section)

===Recensions and standardised text===
Luo Guanzhong's version in 24 volumes, known as the ''Sanguozhi Tongsu Yanyi'', is now held in the [[Shanghai Library]] in China, [[Tenri Central Library]] in Japan, and several other major libraries. Various 10-volume, 12-volume and 20-volume [[recension]]s of Luo's text, made between 1522 and 1690, are also held at libraries around the world. However, the standard text familiar to general readers is a recension by Mao Lun and his son [[Mao Zonggang]].

In the 1660s, during the reign of the [[Kangxi Emperor]] in the [[Qing dynasty]], Mao Lun and Mao Zonggang significantly edited the text, fitting it into 120 chapters, and abbreviating the title to ''Sanguozhi Yanyi''.<ref name="roberts980" /> The text was reduced from 900,000 to 750,000 characters; significant editing was done for narrative flow; use of third-party poems was reduced and shifted from conventional verse to finer pieces; and most passages praising [[Cao Cao]]'s advisers and generals were removed.<ref name="roberts965">Roberts 1991, pg. 965</ref> Scholars have long debated whether the Maos' viewpoint was anti-Qing (identifying [[Southern Ming]] remnants with [[Shu-Han]]) or pro-Qing.<ref name="roberts967 71">Roberts 1991, pp. 967–971</ref>

The famous opening lines of the novel, "[[Tianxia|The empire]], long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been" ({{zh|t=話說天下大勢．分久必合，合久必分|p=|labels=no}}),{{sfnb|Luo|1991|p=5}} long understood to be Luo's introduction and cyclical philosophy, were actually added by the Maos in their substantially revised edition of 1679.<ref>Hegel 2002, p. ix</ref> None of the earlier editions contained this phrase. In addition, Mao also added [[Yang Shen]]'s ''[http://www.vincentpoon.com/the-immortals-by-the-river-----------------.html The Immortals by the River]'' as the famous introductory poem (which began with "The gushing waters of the [[Yangzi River]] pour and disappear into the East", {{lang|zh-Hant|滾滾長江東逝水}}) to the novel.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vincentpoon.com/the-immortals-by-the-river-----------------.html|title=The Immortals by the River (楊慎 臨江仙) 滚滚长江东逝水|website=Vincent's Calligraphy|language=en-GB|access-date=2016-08-02}}</ref> The earlier editions, moreover, spend less time on the process of division, which they found painful, and far more time on the process of reunification and the struggles of the heroes who sacrificed for it.<ref>Bojun Shen, translated by Kimberly Basio, "Studies of Three Kingdoms in the New Century," in Besio and Tong, eds., ''Three Kingdoms and Chinese Culture'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=yhogHgTrzyEC&q=The+empire+long+divided+must+unite p. 154]</ref>