A Evolution History Of The Guanyu’s Image In The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms

Guan Yu is a famous general in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and also a real historical figure.His process of elevating from "Five Tigers Admiral" to "God" formed a history of image evolution with a unique style.During the period of Wei,Jin,Southern and Northern Dynasties,The Records of Three Kingdoms is the first official historical work to record the prototype of Guan Yu’s image,and showed the image characteristics of Guan Yu’s loyalty,bravery and arrogance.Then,Pei Songzhi’s notes on The Records of Three Kingdoms enriched Guan Yu’s original image.It developed the "loyalty" part of Guan Yu’s character,supplemented Guan Yu’s bravety and straightforward personality,and appropriately increased the description of Guan Yu’s character,such as his reckless character and he loves beauty,he provided for people to understand the true Guan Yu.During the Sui and Tang Dynasties,although there are few works involving Guan Yu,Guan Yu’s image is also constantly developing: the historical classics showed the deification tendency of Guan Yu’s image,the poetries and articles strengthened Guan Yu’s image of loyalty and courage.During the Song and Yuan Dynasties,a large number of works related to Guan Yu emerged in the society.Combining with historic classics,poetries,dialogues and operas of this Dynasties,this paper studies the expansion,eulogy,breakthrough and idolization of Guan Yu’s image.During the Ming and Qing Dynasties,Guan Yu’s image also changed imperceptibly.Especially the Ming and Qing Dynasties novels in the most typical image of Guan Yu,such as popular The Romance of The Three Kingdoms of Jiajing Version and The Romance of the Three Kingdoms of Mao Zonggang’s critical version of Guan Yu’s image respectively symbolize his the stereotypes and further enrichment.As a hero with loyalty,righteousness and courage,Guan Yu assisted the people in carrying forward positive energy.After the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the massive construction of Guan Yu temple’s made Guan Yu be highly respected by the people.As a result,Guan Yu’s image has also become a kind of cultural symbol,which has a far-reaching influence.