A Brief Analysis of the Text-Image Correspondence in Ming and Qing Illustrated Novels—Taking the “Seven Armies Flooded by Water” in the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” as an Example

“The Flooded Seven Armies” episode in Romance of the Three Kingdoms is an important plot point that frequently appears in the illustrations of the novel during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This paper analyzes illustrations from multiple versions of Romance of the Three Kingdoms from the perspective of the relationship between text and image, revealing significant inconsistencies between the illustrations and the text. Art history studies show that illustrations often combine multiple events within a single image, presenting a cross-temporal narrative structure. At the same time, some illustrations deviate from or misinterpret the original text, possibly due to the illustrators’ misunderstandings of the text or creative liberties taken during the artistic process. Taking the “The Flooded Seven Armies” episode as an example, the illustrations merge events occurring at different times, such as Guan Yu shooting arrows and Zhou Cang capturing Pang De, or depict scenes that do not appear in the original text. This study highlights the narrative innovations in novel illustrations during the Ming and Qing periods and their impact on the reconfiguration of the relationship between text and image.