The Three Kingdoms era is a period in the history of China, part of an era of disunity called the Six Dynasties following immediately the loss of de facto power of the Han dynasty emperors. In a strict academic sense it refers to the period between the foundation of the Wu in 222 and the conquest of the Shu by the Kingdom of Wei in 263. However, many Chinese historians and laymen extend the starting point of this period back to the uprising of the Yellow Turbans in 184
