Historical Record
Ma Jun, styled Deheng, was a famous mechanical inventor of the state of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. With his outstanding mechanical genius and innovative ability, he achieved a number of important advances in the technology of his time. Regrettably, however, the records of Ma Jun in the official histories are relatively scarce, failing to depict his life and the specific details of his inventions in full. Nonetheless, he was praised by later generations as "the most ingenious craftsman under heaven," which shows his standing in the history of technology. Although the histories do not directly record Ma Jun's interactions with Emperor Ming of Wei, Cao Rui, nor mention his involvement in dismantling the bronze men of Chang'an and the like, his contributions to mechanical manufacture are beyond doubt. He improved the silk-weaving loom, built the south-pointing chariot, and invented the dragon-bone water wheel; these inventions had a positive influence on the production and life of his day. Owing to the scarcity of the historical sources, we cannot trace a complete image of Ma Jun from the official histories, and most of his deeds and traits of character are submerged in the long river of history.
In the Novel
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ma Jun's image is given a more dramatic color; he is no longer merely an obscure mechanical inventor but is directly drawn into the absurd doings of Emperor Ming of Wei, Cao Rui. The Ma Jun of the novel first appears in Chapter 105 and engages in two conversations with Cao Rui. When Cao Rui was enraged by the frank remonstrances of Dong Xun and Zhang Mao, he summoned Ma Jun and asked him for a method to attain immortality. Complying with Cao Rui's wishes, Ma Jun proposed dismantling the bronze men on the Han dynasty's Boliang Terrace to obtain the "heavenly nectar" in the "dew-receiving basin," claiming that this water could "restore old age to youth." This episode has no record in the official histories and is a literary creation of the novel meant to highlight Cao Rui's folly and Ma Jun's helplessness. Ma Jun then went by order at the head of ten thousand men to Chang'an to dismantle the bronze men. In the course of the dismantling, tears flowed from the bronze men's eyes, a violent wind arose, and the terrace toppled and the pillars fell, causing the tragedy of more than a thousand deaths. Even so, Ma Jun still transported the bronze men and the dew-receiving basin back to Luoyang and presented them to Cao Rui. This series of events makes the Ma Jun of the novel a fuller figure: he is both a craftsman of superb skill and, to some degree, an accomplice in Cao Rui's debauchery and tyranny, an image bearing a tragic cast that deviates from the pure image of a scientific inventor found in the official histories.
Key Relationships
Ma Jun's relationship with Emperor Ming of Wei, Cao Rui, is given particular emphasis in Romance of the Three Kingdoms (unique to the novel). Cao Rui was Ma Jun's sovereign and also the one who made use of his talent. Cao Rui's obsession with immortality drew Ma Jun into the absurd affair of dismantling the bronze men. Although Ma Jun's proposal seemed to cater to Cao Rui, whether he himself approved of such superstition is not made clear by the novel, leaving room for the reader's imagination. This relationship between sovereign and subject is rendered in the novel more as a forced submission under an imbalance of power. In addition, a special "relationship" is also established between Ma Jun and the bronze men on the Han dynasty's Boliang Terrace (unique to the novel). The bronze men, as symbols of the Han, "shed tears" when Ma Jun dismantled them and brought about an "earth-shattering" portent. This lends Ma Jun's act an air of destroying the relics of the former dynasty and hints at an omen that the destiny of Wei was nearing its end.
Iconic Scenes
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ma Jun's most iconic scene is undoubtedly his going by order of Emperor Ming of Wei, Cao Rui, to Chang'an to dismantle the bronze men of the Boliang Terrace. This scene is full of drama and symbolic meaning. Ma Jun led ten thousand men to Chang'an and directed them to erect wooden scaffolding and climb the towering Boliang Terrace. When the bronze men were taken down, the tears flowing from their eyes, and the violent wind, the toppling terrace, and the falling pillars that followed—causing more than a thousand dead and wounded—left a deep impression on the reader. This scene not only displays Ma Jun's organizational ability as a technical expert but, through the supernatural portent, also sets off the absurdity of Cao Rui's quest for immortality and the sorrow that the destiny of the Han had run its course. After the bronze men were transported back to Luoyang, Cao Rui had them cast into "wengzhong" statues set outside the Sima Gate, and had bronze dragons and phoenixes cast and set before the hall, further highlighting Cao Rui's extravagance and Ma Jun's instrumental role (unique to the novel). This scene is the core of Ma Jun's characterization in the novel and the concentrated embodiment of his relationship with Cao Rui and of the background of the age.
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Lines
- 演 ch.105 §35→ Cao Rui📍 Luoyang
「漢朝二十四帝，惟武帝享國最久，壽算極高，蓋因服天上日精月華之氣也。嘗於長安宮中，建柏梁臺；臺上立一銅人，手捧一盤，名曰『承露盤』，接三更北斗所降沆瀣之水，其名曰『天漿』，又曰『甘露。』取此水用美玉為屑，調和服之，可以反老還童。」
- 演 ch.105 §36→ Cao Rui📍 Luoyang
「柱重百萬斤，不能運至。」
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- 演ch.105
Inner monologues · AI-generated1 段 ▸
- My courtesy name was Zhongheng. I served at the Wei court, and my thoughts concerned no more than the principles of thin