Abstract: The karma story of the three kingdoms was first found in Tales from the Five Dynasties,and again in Popular Stories of the Three Kingdoms and Instruction Stories to Enlighten the World of the Ming Dynasty.This story developed from a short line into a complete text of a story,Origin of the Three Kingdoms,which took on a systematic transmutation track.In the process of evolution,the most demonstrable feature is the enhancement of literati value,mainly manifested in argumentation,accuracy as well as individuation. The continual inheritance of the Karma story of the Three Kingdoms was decided by three factors: it has the subject matter that contains the commercial potential,conforms to the aesthetic taste of the audience,and satisfies the creator ’s desire to entertain and persuade the readers.
Keywords: vernacular novels; Karma; flowing deformation; literati value
The Chinese version appeared in Journal of Fujian University of Technology, 2021(04).