Ancient China Hack and Slash with Three Kingdoms

I’m watching the super-long series “Three Kingdoms” on DVD, currently also showing on Astro on Demand. There are 95 episodes (yes, NINETY FIVE) and I’ve only passed episode 13 so its a long, long, long way to go.

I’d thought I would have given up after 1 or 2 episodes since my Mandarin (listening and speaking) is rudimentary at best, but actually the series isn’t so difficult to follow. Of course, I definitely need to pay close attention and have the Chinese dictionary on standby on my Android phone (this awesome app). And after every episode I usually have to go online to read up a little on the story synopsis to fill in the gaps where I don’t follow the dialogue (and trust me, this series is REALLY heavy on dialogue…). With all the research my wife says its like I’m taking an exam.

Considering I’ve never watched a Mandarin series in my life, why am I watching this? (No wait i think i watched that weepy Koo Sin Lian on Sunday afternoons back when I was a kid).

Well, back when i was in uni, my friends were really crazy about this game called Romance of the Three Kingdoms II by Koei. It was a strategy game based on the Chinese classic text, and as we spend long nights conquering the Middle Kingdom on our PCs, my roommate who has read the book before would tell me about the story. That’s where I heard all the fascinating tales about Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei who swore their brotherhood in a peach orchard, the genius of Zhuge Liang, the Machiavellian Cao Cao and his clan and Lu Bu, the greatest warrior in land.

Of course I realize for me to read the Chinese classic would be impossible, and over the years I’ve seen the 2 English translations available. Both are difficult to read, with much of the beauty and nuances of the original lost.

So back to the series. It’s amazing how these ‘unofficial’ versions can cram 95 episodes into 4 DVDs. But beats watching the jerky online version anyday.