History Series / RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms1994

* BadassGrandpa:
** Say what you will about Dong Zhuo, but the man still rides into battle in full armor despite being in his sixties. Some of the minor characters who defy him fall into this as well, most notably Ding Yuan and Wang Yu.
** Ditto for Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, who are already getting along in years by the time they meet on the battlefield.

[[caption-width-right:400:''As ancient adage states: The world under heaven, Long divided must unite. Long united must divide.'']]

Yet the verdeant hills stand as they did before, beneath rosy sunsets.\\
White haired fishermen and lumberjacks on the banks, familiarized with the autumn moons and the spring breezes.\\

The countlesss tales of past and present, all in their jests.''

The original television adapataion, and for an older generation, ''the'' [[TropeCodifier definitive adaptation]] of Luo Guanzong's ''[[Literature/RomanceoftheThreeKingdoms Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]''. Ran on {{Creator/CCTV}} for 84 episodes from 1994 to 1995, and was the winner of China's inaugural Golden Eagle Award for Best TV Series.

* ShownTheirWork: the 1994 series is still widely regarded for its (at the time) extensive and thought-out research in not just Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but also intergrating from real history in writing, costuming and set design.

** The buildings and other set design and many of the props are reproductions of actual Han Dynasty architecture and artwork.
*** The backlots made for this show were still being used in 2010 Three Kingdoms series, such as the Tongquetai set.
** Characters often speak in Classical Chinese, and their behavior and etiquette follows how real historical people were recorded to have acted. To the point there are even entire new lines of dialogs and monologs that written in the language style of the original novel, or taken from actual historical text.

* AdaptedOut: The Yellow Turbans had three leaders, namely the Zhang Brothers of Julu commandery. Only the eldest, and the rebellion's supreme leader, Zhang Jue, appears in the series (and even then he only appears twice in a nonspeaking role).
** The other two Zhang brothers do however appear in some alternative cuts or test screenings of the first episode.

** Most of the costumes in the series were based on Han Dynasty history, however the armor and helmets are designed after the more popularized Song Dynasty to Ming Dynasty armors than the actual Han Dynasty.

** Say what you will about Dong Zhuo, but the man still rides into battle in full armor despite being in his sixties. Ditto for Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, who are already getting along in years by the time they meet on the battlefield.
** Some of the minor characters who defy Dong Zhuo fall into this as well, most notably Ding Yuan and Wang Yu.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Late in the show, Sima Yi us seen admiring a map of China. [[spoiler: Guess whose family ends up uniting the divided realm in the end?]]

* ShownTheirWork: the 1994 series is still widely regarded for its (at the time) extensive and thought out research in not just Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but also intergrating from real history in writing, costuming and set design.

** The buildings and other set design and many of the props are reproductions of actual Han Dynasty architecgure and artwork.
*** The backlots made for this show were still being used in 2010 Three Kingdoms series, such as the the Tongquetai set.

* DoingInTheWizard: Many of the magical parts of the original story, which weren't many to begin with, were cut ffom this adaptation. Notably Yu Ji is depicted closer to his historical counterpart without his sorcery. Moments where the novel implied Zhuge Liang had some skills in Taoist magic and divination were also removed or explained as being also part of Zhuge Liang's strategic foresight and/or understanding meteorology and geography.

*** the backlots made for this show were still reused in 2010 Three Kingdoms series, such as the the Tongquetai set.
** Characters often speak in Classical Chinese and their behavior and etiquette follows how real historical people were recorded to have acted. To point, there are even entire new lines of dialogs and monologs that written in the language style of the original novel, or taken from actual historical text.
** Characters in the ahow frequently refer to actual historical incidents as example, such as Warring States or earlier Western Han Dynasty.

** Most of the costumes are actually Song Dynasty-era costumes borrowed from other productions.

The series has had a few poorly-done subtitle releases on laserdisc and DVD, but starting in December of 2021, a fansub group appropriately named the [[https://gentlemenofthehan.wordpress.com/ Gentlemen of the Han]] have taken it upon themselves to fansub the whole series.

* AdaptedOut: The Yellow Turbans had three leaders, namely the Zhang Brothers of Julu commandery. Only the eldest, and the rebellion's leader, Zhang Jue, appears in the series (and even then he only appears twice in a nonspeaking role).

The series has had a few poorly-done subtitle releases on laserdisc and DVD, but starting in December of 2021, a fansub group appropriately named the [[https://gentlemenofthehan.wordpress.com/ Gentlemen of the Han]] have taken it upon themselves to fansub the whole series. As of July 2023, they've completed a little more than half of the show.

Compare and contrast to 2010's ''Series/ThreeKingdoms'', which covers the same events.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Late in the show, Sima Yi can be seen admiring a map of China. [[spoiler: Guess whose family ends up uniting the divided realm in the end?]]

* WorthyOpponent: Underscored by Liu Bei and Cao Cao, then by Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi.

* TheAnnotatedEdition: A rare TV example: most prints of the show include several burnt-in Chinese subtitles to underscore the novel's more famous lines as they're spoken.

Unlike the 2010 adaptation, this series take great pains to follow the source material as close as possible, and even brings up on screen subtitles to emphasize the novel's most iconic quotes (such as Cao Cao's "I would rather betray the world than have the world betray me!"), most of which are copied line per line from either the novel or the official history of the era, the '''Records of the Three Kingdoms''.

* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: Downplayed. The later home video releases of the show have a new opening sequence, with the title rendered in CGI. During its original run, the title was traditionally animated.

The original television adapataion, and for an older generation, ''the'' [[TropeCodifier definitive adaptation]] of Luo Guanzong's ''[[Literature/RomanceoftheThreeKingdoms Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]''. Ran on Creator/CCTV for 84 episodes from 1994 to 1995, and was the winner of China's inaugural Golden Eagle Award for Best TV Series.

-->-- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBTJSHKtA1o ''The Long River Rolls Eastward'' as sung by Yang Hongji]], the show's opening theme song and included in the original novel as an epigraph.

The original television adapataion, and for an older generation, ''the'' [[TropeCodifier definitive adaptation]] of Luo Guanzong's ''[[Literature/RomanceoftheThreeKingdoms Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]''. Ran on Creator/CCTV for 84 episodes from 1994 to 1995, and Winner of China's inagural Golden Eagle Award for Best TV Series.

** As expected since it follows the book far closer than the 2010 version. It does, however, supposedly take a few lines from the official history of the Three Kingdoms Era.

Compare and contrast to 2010's Series/ThreeKingdoms, which covers the same events.

* Foreshadowing: Late in the show, Sima Yi can be seen admiring a map of China. Guess whose family ends up uniting China in the end?

* EvilChancellor / EvilSoundDeep: Dong Zhuo, and depending on how you view him, Cao Cao.