Research On The Image Of Cao Cao In The Three Kingdoms Period

The image of Caocao had been greatly complicated since the period of Three Kingdom.Not from imagination and evaluation of later ages on historical characters,Caocao ’ s various images in Three Kingdom were mostly derived from political relationships between Caocao and people at that time as well as consideration on interests.Propaganda discourses of different political forces interwove,constituting a tumultuous field of public opinions,within which Caocao’s image was a focus.The self-image written by Caocao himself had experienced a series of evolutions.In his previous poems,he always expressed compassionate feelings,full of the idea of benevolence.Later,with the quick expansion of his political power,he boasted himself as Duke of Zhou,Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin,who were all famous overlords in Chinese history.This change was required to respond to criticism of opposition forces on his weakness and conduct public relations in crisis.And also,Cao could attract talents in the name of Duke of Zhou to extend his political power.Until he was absolutely dominant and had so great power that there were no scruples at all,he highlighted more about the image of an overlord in his poems.In his twilight years,he had more thorough understanding of life,so his poems were lighted up with wisdom.Within the Wei state of the Three-Kingdoms Period,Cao Pi and Cao Zhi are not only Cao ’ s sons but also his subjects,with common political pursuit and close culture inherence.Under the dual effects of kinship and political interests,they described Cao Cao as a great father and more a great hero in their poems.In this way,the seven leading writers during the Jian An Period at the end of the Han Dynasty evaluated Cao Cao on the basis of the manipulation of the State on holistic political opinions,mostly with eulogy.Yet Kong Rong and Liu Lin were exceptions: Kong Rong originally had an ardent expectation for Cao and regarded him as the virtuous minister who could revitalize the Han Dynasty,but later perceived his“ambition”and“trickery”due to Cao’s growing power.When in Yuan Shao’s camp,Chen Lin ever depicted Cao as the brutal usurper of the power of Han Dynasty in his official accusation of Cao.However,once in Cao’s camp,he represented Cao as the virtuous “minister of Han Dynasty” in his official accusation of Sun Quan,the King of Kingdom of Wu.This dramatic change was typical at that time.For the Kingdom of Shu Han and the Kingdom of Wu,defaming Cao was the only effective political strategy with political correctness.Liu Bei,who considered himself as the member of Han clan,continuously accused Cao Cao of usurping the power of Han Dynasty under the banner of proving his identity in Han clan,thus gaining the most legitimacy.Kingdom of Wu had weak political relation with Han Dynasty and bore some moral pressure.Therefore,it had to criticize Cao ’ s personal conducts and political behaviors with the help of traditional rites and etiquettes of Confucian school.The Biography of Cao Man is the product of this motive(Cao Man is the pet name of Cao Cao).Apart from the three leading camps,some onlookers like Qiao Xuan,Xu Shao and He Yong gave Cao a neutral evaluation in that they keenly discovered his talents and predicted his political achievements in the future.