Late Han and Three Kingdoms · 184-280 AD

The Three Kingdoms: the end of the Han

In 184 rebels in yellow headscarves rose against the Han. The generals who crushed them became warlords, and by 220 China was split into three kingdoms: Wei, Shu and Wu. Students map the split and separate the real history from the famous novel.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 184 to AD 208
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In 184 rebels in yellow headscarves rose against the Han. The generals who crushed them became warlords, and by 220 China was split into three kingdoms: Wei, Shu and Wu. Students map the split and separate the real history from the famous novel.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain why the Han dynasty broke apart after AD 184.
  • Locate the kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu and their capitals on the map.
  • Tell apart the history of the Three Kingdoms and the later novel about them.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 184

Strong on the map

Open the map in AD 184. The Han Empire still looks whole, but this year the Yellow Turban rebellion broke out. Why can a huge empire look strong on a map and still be weak?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 230

Three capitals

Set the year to 230 (the map keeps the old Han borders). Type "Where were Luoyang, Chengdu and Jianye?" in Ask the atlas. Which capital belonged to Wei, which to Shu and which to Wu?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 208

The Yangtze line

Zoom in on the middle Yangtze River, upstream of modern Wuhan. The battle of the Red Cliffs was fought here in 208. Why is a great river a strong border for a kingdom with a navy?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. The Yellow Turbans were mostly poor farmers hit by floods, famine and disease. Why might they follow a religious leader against the emperor?
  2. The generals who fought the rebels kept their armies afterwards. Why was that dangerous for the emperor?
  3. At the Red Cliffs two smaller forces beat a bigger one. How can geography help the weaker side?
  4. The Three Kingdoms lasted about 60 years, but stories about them are still famous. Why do people love stories of a divided age?
  5. A novel written over a thousand years later made Cao Cao a villain. How do novels, films and games shape what we think about history?
4

Game round

9 min

Play Marcus Aurelius in Rule History. He died in 180, four years before the Yellow Turbans rose, while Rome fought plague and war on its own frontiers. After the round, discuss: what does an empire need to survive a crisis, and which of these did the late Han lack?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.