Traditional Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin
Three Kingdoms: Zhao Yun at Changban
长坂坡
Three Kingdoms: Zhao Yun at Changban (长坂坡, Chángbǎn Pō) is a story from Three Kingdoms, the Chinese classic by Luo Guanzhong, retold in simple Mandarin as a 4-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 3 (Intermediate).
With Cao Cao's army closing in, Zhao Yun rides back into the fight for baby A Dou, and Zhang Fei stands alone on a bridge. Retold from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — The warm storyteller who sets the scene.
- Liu Bei · 刘备 — A kind, patient leader who believes the right person is worth asking three times.
- Zhang Fei · 张飞 — Liu Bei's loud sworn brother who wants to solve everything with a rope.
- Zhao Yun · 赵云 — Liu Bei's loyal, fearless general on a white horse.
- Lady Mi · 糜夫人 — Liu Bei's wife and A Dou's mother, gentle and brave.
- A Dou · 阿斗 — Liu Bei's baby son, who sleeps through everything.
- Cao Cao · 曹操 — The clever, powerful warlord chasing Liu Bei.
- Old Farmer · 老人 — A kind old man in the crowd.
- Cao Soldier · 曹兵 — A soldier in Cao Cao's army.
- Cao General · 曹将 — One of Cao Cao's generals.
- Rider · 骑兵 — One of Zhang Fei's twenty riders.
4 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The Long Road
长路上
A hundred thousand villagers follow Liu Bei toward safety, but dust is rising behind them. Zhao Yun promises to guard Lady Mi and baby A Dou.
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Chapter 2: Back into the Fire
冲进火里
Smoke fills the battlefield as Zhao Yun searches for Lady Mi. What he finds beside an old well will change everything.
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Chapter 3: The White Dragon
白龙
Ring after ring of soldiers closes around Zhao Yun, and from a hill Cao Cao watches. Then Zhao Yun reaches a bridge where one huge man waits.
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Chapter 4: Zhang Fei Shouts
张飞一喊
Alone on a bridge, Zhang Fei tries a trick with dust and one enormous shout. When the fighting is over, a new problem is waiting.
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Key words in Three Kingdoms: Zhao Yun at Changban
Behind the story
This story is retold from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the great Chinese novel by Luo Guanzhong, written about six hundred years ago. It tells of the wars at the end of the Han dynasty. The battle of Changban took place around the year 208, as Liu Bei was fleeing south from Cao Cao's army with a huge crowd of ordinary people.
Chinese readers know this scene as a showcase for two heroes: 赵云, who carries baby A Dou through an army, and 张飞, whose shout on the bridge scares Cao Cao's soldiers away. The rescue is a favorite of Peking opera and storytellers, and many people learn it as children.
Did you know?
- Baby A Dou grew up to be Liu Shan, the second emperor of the Shu Han kingdom, which Liu Bei founded.
- In Chinese today, 阿斗 can describe someone so helpless that no one can help them succeed. The saying comes from this baby's later life.
- The real history records that 赵云 protected Liu Bei's family at Changban. The wells, pits and long fights are added by the novel.