If one were to choose the most iconic landmark of Chinese culture, the Forbidden City would undoubtedly be the top choice—it is the world’s largest ancient wooden architectural complex and a UNESCO World Heritage Site; its collection of cultural relics is a veritable treasure trove, embodying the profound history of China’s five thousand years.
If one were to select the most representative title in the Three Kingdoms strategy game genre, *Rate of the Land* would be a strong contender—when it burst onto the scene, the game established the “Rate of the Land-style” genre, attracting countless imitators and, to a large extent, shaping the nostalgia for the Three Kingdoms era among a generation of Chinese gamers.
History has a knack for bringing the past and the present together in unexpected ways. Just recently, the Palace Museum’s “Guantang” and “Shuotu” launched a cross-platform collaboration. Interestingly, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the former’s founding, while the latter is currently celebrating the 10th anniversary of its open beta.
When the 100-year-old "Rate of the Land" meets the 1,000-year-old Forbidden City, the convergence of these two parallel timelines creates a unique tension between time and space. As someone who has always followed Chinese traditional culture, I was among the first to take notice of this "blockbuster collaboration." Without a doubt, this partnership represents yet another significant attempt to modernize the dissemination of traditional culture.
01
Rebirth: "I Settle in the Forbidden City"
I’ve also been keeping an eye on the reactions from the SLG and Shuotu player communities. This grand event has sparked enthusiasm in nearly everyone, though each person has their own unique reason to celebrate. For instance, this collaboration fulfills a fantasy many have held: “Could I spend a night in the Forbidden City?” Legend has it that the Forbidden City was built upon a dragon vein, and everyone wants to soak up the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Taking advantage of this collaboration, Shuitu now allows players to “move right in” to the Forbidden City—the newly launched “Imperial Palace” series of collaborative city skins transforms players’ main cities into replicas of the Forbidden City.The entire set faithfully recreates the authentic architecture of the Forbidden City, featuring red walls, yellow tiles, vermilion gates with gold-plated nails, and ornate eaves and bracket sets—truly a magnificent sight. By participating in the community H5 event, players can also receive the “Hall of Supreme Harmony” skin for free. Among the three major halls of the Forbidden City, the Hall of Supreme Harmony holds the highest status and is known as “China’s First Hall.”
But that’s not even the highlight of this collaboration between the Palace Museum and “Guantang”—what players have been most excited about in recent days is the gameplay surrounding the Imperial Seal-themed server. A massive battle is about to erupt over the ownership of the imperial seal, which has been regarded by dynasties throughout history as the symbol of legitimate imperial authority.
In the fierce battle for national supremacy, the alliance leader who ultimately conquers Luoyang will claim the Imperial Seal. Additionally, there are features such as accumulating merits to advance in rank.
In my opinion, the significance of this gameplay mechanic should not be underestimated. On the one hand, the Imperial Seal on display at the Forbidden City has been passed from one ruler to another amid fierce competition since the fall of the Qin Dynasty. This was particularly true during the Three Kingdoms period, when the seal played a decisive role in events such as Yuan Shu’s declaration of imperial authority and Cao Cao’s use of the emperor as a figurehead to command the feudal lords.Now, with the Imperial Seal returning from its silk-lined case to the battlefield to be contested once again, a thrilling chapter of history is being romantically reenacted within the game.
On the other hand, the core appeal of SLG games lies in "competing against others." Compared to the simple goal of conquering Luoyang in the past, the introduction of the Imperial Seal adds a sense of glory beyond the thrill of conquest. Spurred on by the Imperial Seal, players are pulling out all the stops, and the battles in this Imperial Seal-themed server are sure to be even more spectacular. This will give rise to a host of major community events, fully immersing Shuotu players in the game’s sense of ceremony.
Not only that, but players competing for the Imperial Seal will also enjoy “royal-level” treatment this time around. By completing anniversary quests during the celebration, players can earn up to 4,800 Tiger Tokens as anniversary rewards. They can also choose one of three brand-new 5-star generals—Cao Cao, Sun Jian, or Liu Bei—to receive for free and permanently, along with various other items such as anniversary-exclusive commemorative cards and collaboration merchandise.Shuotu has also prepared special rewards for returning players. Players who have not logged in for an extended period can receive a return gift of at least 2,000 Tiger Tokens and up to 60,000 Tiger Tokens in the Imperial Seal server, based on their past spending history.
Players who obtain the Imperial Seal can also unlock a unique server-wide seal emblem and unlock the Xiyuan Army appearance for their marching troops, allowing them to enjoy the supreme prestige of being “Unrivaled Under Heaven” in Shuotu—hey, that’s some serious swagger!
02
Parallel Lines Through History
This collaboration allows us to witness the power of history. I once heard someone say that Chinese history is like a ceaselessly flowing river: though it has seen the rise and fall of dynasties, its five-thousand-year-old legacy has never been severed, but flows as a unified whole with overwhelming momentum. When this holistic historical continuum is folded into a single point, we can further discover many points of parallel convergence within the folds of time.
The developers of *Shuitu* have shown great creativity this time around. Rather than limiting themselves to the usual collaboration activities—such as introducing new gameplay features and offering in-game rewards—they’ve incorporated two paintings from the Palace Museum’s collection into the game. Using modern digital painting techniques and the game’s character designs, they’ve reimagined the content of these two classic masterpieces.
Among them, the scroll *Shang Xi’s Depiction of Guan Yu Capturing the Enemy General* reenacts the classic battle where Guan Yu flooded the Seven Armies and captured the enemy general Pang De alive. In this version, the modern portrayal of Guan Gong from *Shuitu* takes center stage; while his pose has shifted from resting his hand on his knee to stroking his beard, his majesty remains undiminished;Another painting, *The Lady of the Luo River*, depicts the romantic scene imagined by the artist Cao Zhi, in which he encounters the goddess of the Luo River by its banks. The character Zhen Luo from *Shuitu* was created based on this very painting.
The copy of *The Lady of the Luo River* in the Palace Museum’s collection is traditionally attributed to Gu Kaizhi of the Jin Dynasty and was copied by an artist of the Song Dynasty several centuries later; meanwhile, the hanging scroll *Shang Xi’s Depiction of Guan Yu Capturing a General*, which depicts Guan Yu flooding the Seven Armies and capturing Pang De alive, was painted by a Ming Dynasty artist.
This legacy, spanning dynasties, allows us to vividly appreciate how the stories of the Three Kingdoms era have been upheld by generations of Chinese people throughout history. Through word of mouth, written texts, and illustrations, they have dedicated themselves to preserving and celebrating these tales, thereby sustaining the continuity of Chinese cultural heritage.While fully preserving the cultural roots, literati throughout the ages have continuously added new interpretations and reinterpretations to this legacy, ultimately allowing the Three Kingdoms to flourish with vibrant vitality even in the modern era.
Through this major collaboration with the Palace Museum’s “Viewing the Tang Dynasty” exhibition, we once again experience the harmonious unity of China’s millennia-long history spanning multiple dynasties in *Rateshu Zhibin*.
03
Seeking a Place for Three Kingdoms Culture
I couldn’t help but recall a famous quote by Shan Jixiang, the former director of the Palace Museum: “We should enable more people to engage with culture and allow culture to take its rightful place in their lives.” This “internet-famous director” is best known to the public for the numerous down-to-earth reforms he implemented during his tenure to make the Palace Museum more accessible to the public.
In the eyes of the public, the Forbidden City has become increasingly “down-to-earth” in recent years—it remains the ultimate repository of China’s history and culture, yet at the same time, documentaries like *Repairing Cultural Relics at the Forbidden City* have broken through traditional boundaries; cultural and creative products—such as Emperor Yongzheng making a peace sign or turning imperial prayer beads into earbuds—generate over a billion yuan in annual sales; and a facet of China’s profound history has entered the homes of ordinary people with a more approachable image.
In this regard, *Rateshu Zhibin* is deeply aligned with the core philosophy of the Palace Museum. People often ponder the question, “What is a game?” and tend to focus primarily on its gameplay and entertainment value, but this perspective is inevitably one-sided.
As Shan Jixiang recognized back then, the Forbidden City is more than just a museum housing artifacts; it can serve as a “super engine” for preserving China’s cultural heritage and spreading cultural awareness. Similarly, video games are more than just a source of dopamine; they can become a “super medium” that uses comprehensive modern audiovisual techniques to create an immersive experience unlike anything seen before in history, sowing the seeds of culture in the hearts of tens of millions of players.
Therefore, when it comes to games like *Shuitu Zhibin*, it has become increasingly difficult to evaluate them solely based on sales charts and revenue figures. Over the years, the *Shuitu Zhibin* team has aimed to achieve goals that go far beyond these metrics.
For example, in 2022, *Shuitu Zhibin* partnered with the Department of History at Peking University to launch a cultural project titled “Shuitu Character Research.” The project draws on clues about Three Kingdoms figures from official dynastic histories such as *Records of the Three Kingdoms* and *The Book of the Later Han*, as well as ancient fiction like *A New Account of Tales of the World* and *Records of the Remaining*, to more comprehensively reconstruct the historical portraits of these figures.The first phase has already completed the historical research on 800 Three Kingdoms generals.
Building on rigorous historical facts, Shuotu delves deeper to explore distinctive, original interpretations. For instance, in the Shuotu Character Chronicles, the game breaks away from the one-dimensional portrayal of Dong Zhuo as a “cruel, ruthless villain,” instead depicting his journey from a young warrior who once roamed the battlefields to a tyrannical warlord whose mindset gradually shifted toward brutality… Throughout the entire Character Chronicles series, such multidimensional characterizations continually challenge players’ simplistic, stereotypical views of historical figures.
As part of the "Original Theme Month" event, which relaunched last month, *Rateshu Zhibin* also launched an in-depth collaboration with *The Starry Sky of the Three Kingdoms: Part One*, China’s first animated feature film based on the Three Kingdoms era, and invited players to participate in co-creation activities such as seasonal character portraits to bring Three Kingdoms characters to life together.
In this way, *Shuitu* enables the culture of the Three Kingdoms to both “look back” and “move forward,” undertaking original modern explorations of the Three Kingdoms within a serious commitment to historical heritage, thereby enriching the culture and adding deeper layers of meaning to it. In recent years, *Shuitu*’s effectiveness in preserving and promoting this culture has been repeatedly recognized by official media outlets such as Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily Online.
When the golden tiles of the Forbidden City meet the strategies of *Rateshu* in the virtual world, we witness the growth and continuity of culture in this new era. We can now confirm that *Rateshu* has carved out a place for the Three Kingdoms in our time.
原创文章，作者：游茶妹儿，禁止转载：https://youxichaguan.com/en/archives/194604
