Like many fictitious events in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Oath of the Peach Garden was developed based on folk tales from earlier generations. Zhang Fei's biography also mentioned that Guan Yu was older than Zhang Fei, so Zhang regarded Guan as an elder brother. However, in Guan Yu's biography, their relationship was described to be "as close as brothers", to the point of "sharing the same bed". There is no mention of the three men becoming sworn brothers in Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms, the authoritative source for the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. On Liu Bei's order, Guan Xing and Zhang Bao became oath brothers too. Liu Bei berated them for forgetting their late fathers' fraternity. When the Shu Han forces were summoned, Guan Yu's son Guan Xing and Zhang Fei's son Zhang Bao competed to lead the vanguard force, and even challenged each other to a duel. Liu Bei died of illness in 223, a year after his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Xiaoting. Zhang Fei was saddened by Guan Yu's death and often tortured his subordinates to vent his anger he was finally assassinated by his subordinates in 221, right before the eastern expedition. When Liu Bei ascended to the throne to restore the house of Han, his first edict was to wage war on Sun Quan to avenge Guan Yu. Guan Yu was killed by Sun Quan's forces in 220. In spite of their oath, the three brothers did not die on the same day. They recruited 500 volunteers to fight under the governor's command and repelled the advancing rebels, in what became the first battle of the brothers' long journey to pacify the nation. Liu Bei ordered the craftsman to forge a pair of swords, Guan Yu the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and Zhang Fei a 1.8- zhang Snake Lance. In many other translations, only the section dealing with "dying on the same day" is present.Īfter the oath, Liu Bei was declared the eldest brother, followed by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as the most junior. If we should ever do anything to betray our friendship, may heaven and the people of the earth both strike us dead. May the Gods of Heaven and Earth attest to what is in our hearts. We merely hope to die on the same day, in the same month and in the same year. We seek not to be born on the same day, in the same month and in the same year. We shall avenge the nation above, and pacify the citizenry below. From this day forward, we shall join forces for a common purpose: to save the troubled and to aid the endangered. When saying the names Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, although the surnames are different, yet we have come together as brothers. The oath, as it appears in the Wikisource translation of Chapter 1 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, was this: Zhang Fei suggested they should conduct a sacrificial ceremony to heaven and earth and take the oath as brothers under blossoming peach trees in his garden, to which Liu Bei and Guan Yu agreed. Liu Bei told him about their plan and the three men went to Zhang Fei's home to discuss. While drinking at a restaurant, they met Guan Yu, who was on his way to join the army. Liu Bei then shared his aspirations of saving the country and the people, and Zhang Fei suggested they should together recruit a voluntary militia to combat the Yellow Turbans. He was scolded by Zhang Fei, who worked as a butcher, for not serving the country. Seeing the notice, Liu Bei, a 28-year-old distant descendant of the empire's ruling house, let out a long sigh. When the Yellow Turban rebels were advancing on You Province, the governor posted a conscription notice in Zhuo County. It is also often alluded to as a symbol of fraternal loyalty.Ĭhapter 1 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms sets out the story of the Ten Attendants' usurpation of power and the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which destabilised the Han Empire. The oath bound the three men, who would later play important roles in the establishment of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. Their goal in taking the oath was to protect the Han Empire from the Yellow Turban rebels. Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei took an oath of fraternity in a ceremony in the Peach Garden (believed to be in present-day Zhuozhou, Hebei), and became sworn brothers from then on. This event is set at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty around the time of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the 180s A.D. The Oath of the Peach Garden is a fictional event in the 14th century Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. Statues of (from left) Zhang Fei, Liu Bei and Guan Yu at Haw Par Villa, Singapore
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