Letters | Ukraine, Nato and the Three Kingdoms: what a Chinese schoolgirl knows

Readers discuss a viral video, the effect of sanctions on Russian oil coffers, John Lee’s manifesto and urge greater efforts to retain native-speaking English teachers

Reading Time:4 minutes

A child stares out of a train window as families flee the eastern city of Kramatorsk in Donbas, Ukraine, on April 4. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:30pm, 8 May 2022

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A short video has gone viral. It was of a Chinese schoolgirl giving her take on the Ukraine conflict with reference to the historical novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which she had been reading.

She compared Nato to Cao Cao, the warlord portrayed as bold and unscrupulous in the novel. Ukraine is like Jing province, which Cao took, leaving no buffer between him in the north and warlord Sun Quan in the east, she said.

This would lead to the Battle of Red Cliffs at the end of the Han dynasty, which happened about 1,800 years ago; Cao lost the naval battle and his fleet was set on fire.

When asked what she thought might be the fate of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the girl said: “Just think about Liu Cong.”

Liu was the governor of Jing who had yielded the province to Cao. In the novel, Cao made Liu an official only to later have him killed in an ambush.