The period in China immediately following the end of the Han dynasty. Three kingdoms, the Wei in the north, the Wu in the south‐east, and the Shu Han in the west, rose and constantly fought each other for supremacy. The period ended when the Wei general Sima Yen seized power and unified China under the Western Jin dynasty. Many events and legends of this period appear in one of the classics of Chinese literature, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.