The Mad Scholar: Lessons from Mi Heng on Neurodivergence in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Abstract

This article is a neurodivergent reading of the peripheral character of Mi Heng 禰衡 within Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三國演義 (sanguo yanyi) by Luo Guanzhong 羅貫中 (1280–1360). In a close reading, I discuss Mi Heng as a neurodivergent figure who subverts the normative behavioural codes of the court, in addition to his embodyminded difference of superior cognitive ability. Following this, I consider how insights from Mad Studies can enrichen the discussion, creating a maddened neurodivergent reading approach. In this maddening, I address how Mi Heng is ultimately persecuted as a result of his neurotypology. I then conclude with reflections on the future possibilities of this model. This paper proactively engages with non-Western literature to disrupt the Eurocentric nature of Early Modern Neurodiversity Studies and learns from Critical Neurodiversity Studies in its drawing on Mad Studies theorising.

Lay Abstract

This article focuses on the minor character of Mi Heng禰衡 as he is depicted in the Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms三國演義 (sanguo yanyi) by Luo Guanzhong 羅貫中 (1280 – 1360). I read the text in detail and first consider how Mi Heng is a neurodivergent character who goes against the accepted behaviour in the court. I also consider his internal differences, namely his superior cognition. After this, I draw on ideas from Mad Studies to make the discussion richer. By doing this, I create a ‘maddened neurodivergent reading approach’. When I apply ideas from mad studies to the conversation, I discuss how Mi Heng is persecuted because of his neurodivergence. I then finish by thinking more about the future ways this model can be applied. This paper proactively engages with non-Western literature, which is important due to the focus on European and Western literature within the field of Early Modern Neurodiversity Studies. The paper also learns from Critical Neurodiversity Studies which reminds us of the importance of drawing on Mad Studies ideas.

Introduction

As interest in neurodiversity continues to rise both within and beyond academia, various exciting subfields of neurodiversity studies are emerging, for example, the nascent area of early modern neurodiversity studies. Within this subfield, primarily European and Northern American scholars have demonstrated how neurodiversity-informed readings can create new insights into Renaissance culture and literature (Irish, 2025a). Furthermore, early modern neurodiversity studies scholars have worked through key methodological issues that arise from applying the notion of neurodiversity to premodern societies (Irish, 2025b; Philippian, 2025; Seymour, 2024). Building on this important work, I explore the possibilities of reading the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三國演義 (sanguo yanyi) (1522), the most famous Three Kingdoms narrative, while considering neurodiversity. In doing so, we can grapple with how neurotypological norms were constructed within Ming China 明朝 (1368–1644). Namely, how reading the character of Mi Heng 禰衡 as diverging from norms regarding ‘thinking, processing, interpreting, feeling, communicating, socialising, behaving and more’ permits insights into the acceptable limitations of neurodivergent performance (Wise, 2024, p. 18). Beyond claiming Mi Heng as a neurodivergent figure, a neurodiversity-informed reading also has the potential to ‘help us perceive otherwise obscure features’ of a text, which is a novel avenue for Three Kingdoms studies (Bartlett & Irish, 2025, p. 466). For example, how the court could exercise power against individuals who might nowadays be considered MMIND (Mad, mentally ill, and/or neurodivergent).

Beyond Three Kingdoms specifically, the present article also informs early modern neurodiversity studies more broadly as it expands its purview. This is achieved by de-centring western culture as the sole foci and considering a significant work from another early modern literary canon. In doing so, I hope to encourage other researchers of early modernity and neurodiversity to engage with non-Western literatures. I also respond to recent important correctives within neurodiversity studies as represented by the second ‘critical’ wave of neurodiversity studies. This includes not perpetuating harmful ‘neurodiversity-lite’ (Neumeier, 2018) discourse and proactively engaging with intersectional Mad, Black, Indigenous, Queer, Trans, Crip, Disabled, Women, Critical Animal, GTRSB and Fat neurodivergent knowledges. The final subsection of this article responds to these concerns, through arguing for a maddened neurodivergent reading.

Prior to my analyses, how I use the term ‘neurodivergent’ warrants explanation given the existence of numerous neurodiversity movements and their different uses of language (Ne'eman & Pellicano, 2022). Widely adopted within critical neurodiversity studies, the present article uses Bertilsdotter Rosquist et al.'s definition of anyone who varies from a norm regarding ‘cognitive, affectual and sensory functioning’ (2020, p. 1). In places, this is expanded to consider differences regarding ‘thinking, processing, interpreting, feeling, communicating, socialising, behaving and more’ (Wise, 2024, p. 18). I also consider neurodivergence as encompassing what can be called madness, mental illness or psychiatric disability following the original definition coined by Kassiane Asasumasu (Walker, 2021, p. 34). With relation to literary neurodiversity studies, ‘neurodivergent’ helps us avoid the impulse to diagnose fictional figures from non-contemporaneous fiction in accordance with contemporary understandings. Louise Creechan reminds us that ‘neurodivergence is a relative term; it is fundamentally non-diagnostic, and it adapts to the norm that has been established by specific historical or geographical contexts’ (2025, p. 104).

Three Kingdoms

Three Kingdoms三国志 (ch: sanguozhi, jp: sangokushi, kr: samgugji, vt: tam quốc chí) narratives have important cultural significance within China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Rooted in historical events from China's Three Kingdoms三國 (220–280 CE) period, fictionalised accounts have been written, performed, retold and repurposed across different mediums and time periods. The best-known text within this ever expanding ‘story cloud’ (Wall, 2024), a world of dynamic shapes the Three Kingdoms narrative can take, is the vernacular novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三國演義 (sanguo yanyi). Often attributed to Luo Guanzhong 羅貫中 (1280–1360) (Chen, 2007), the novel is one of the ‘Four classic Chinese novels’ 四大奇書 (si da qishu), a highly influential group of literary works within China and neighbouring countries (see Plaks, 1989).

'Seven parts fact and three parts fiction’ 七分實事, 三分虛構 (Zhang, 1986), the novel draws heavily upon preceding historical works, namely Chen Shou's 陳壽 (233–297) Records of the Three Kingdoms 三國志 (sanguozhi [ca. 280]) and Pei Songzhi's 裴松之 (372–451) Annotated Records of the Three Kingdoms 三國志注 (sanguozhi zhu [429]). The text primarily focuses on a bloody conflict between three warlords vying for power over China— Liu Bei 劉備 of Shu 蜀, Sun Quan 孫権 of Wu 吳 and Cao Cao of Wei 魏— although it boasts over 1000 characters, including Mi Heng, who will be the subject of our close reading.

As expected due to its cultural importance for centuries, Three Kingdoms culture 三国文化 (sanguo wenhua) has been studied extensively (see Shen, 1994). Recent scholarship attending to the novel as a ‘means of understanding the cultural values of late Imperial China, including conceptualisations of heroism and legitimate rulership’ has proved fruitful (Besio, 2025, p. 582). Despite this context, neurodivergence has not been considered as part of this scholarly orientation. Limited discussion beyond the academy has considered ‘developmental disorders’ 発達障害当事者 (jp: hattatsu shōgai tōjisha) as a tool for reading Three Kingdoms, such as Suzuki Nozomi's 鈴木希望provocation to use the text as an awareness-raising mechanism (2025). While he discusses characters in accordance with psy-scientific logics as opposed to neurodiversity-based discourse, he repositions key characters within the text as being autistic-like or ADHD-like, serving as a neurodivergent restorying of the novel. Suzuki argues that if readers consider individuals with ‘developmental disorders’ while reading Three Kingdoms, it will normalise these differences and raise awareness. I instead propose a neurodivergent reading, tying into the work of early modern neurodiversity studies scholars who seek to understand how neurotypological readings can prove fruitful.

A neurodivergent Mi Heng?

Mi Heng turned to them, slipped off his frayed and torn robe and stood there in full view, naked as he was born. The assembled guests covered their faces. Then the drummer composedly drew on his nether garments. “Why do you behave so rudely at court?” said Cao Cao. “To flout one's prince and insult one's superiors is the real rudeness,” cried Mi Heng. “I bare my natural body as an emblem of my purity.”

衡當面脫下舊破衣服，裸體而立，渾身盡露。坐客皆掩面。衡乃徐徐著褲，顏色不變。操叱曰：「廟堂之上，何太無禮？」衡曰：「欺君罔上乃謂無禮。吾露父母之形，以顯清白之體耳！」

Despite appearing in just one of the novel's 120 chapters, the character of Mi Heng has potential to reveal insights about neurotypological norms underpinning Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He brims with neurodivergent resonance; a respected scholar who possesses cognitive abilities exceeding normative limits. Direct and straight-forward in his speech. A ‘putrid bookworm’ 腐儒 (furu), outdatedly committed to his Confucian values. A mad figure who transgresses psychosocial norms (Bruce, 2021, pp. 6–8), a resister of expected social rules in a court context.

The above passage takes place after Mi Heng is summoned to the court by Cao Cao following a recommendatory letter by Kong Rong 孔融. Despite his talents, he offends Cao Cao upon first meeting. Cao plots his revenge by insisting Mi take the job of court drummer, which is intended to embarrass a scholar of his stature. Mi Heng surprisingly accepts, only to drop his robes during the banquet when playing the drums, an act of naked defiance against court power. This passage is helpful for showing how Mi Heng signifies madness within premodern China, which was often conceptualised as disrupting ‘the boundaries of ritualised social interaction’ (Linder, 2011, p. 292).

In thinking about neurodivergence within the passage, we can see how Mi Heng's thinking, communication, socialising and behaving all coalesce to resist the norms of the court. When faced with humiliation, he flips the script through disrobing and communicating his own moral values. His neurodivergent presentation reinforces his claim regarding the true nature of rudeness, indicating that while his neurotypology lends itself to criticism as rude, in fact it is Cao Cao's behaviour that is rude. This scene thus establishes a disconnect between the rigid Confucian morals Mi Heng represents and Cao Cao's actions, which contribute to the construction of the latter as an villain within the text. Therefore, while Mi Heng is a neurodivergent figure who occupies the mad role within the court, this depiction of him instead constructs the villainous nature of a different character.

Embodyminded Differences

Following our discussion of how neurotypological differences are utilised to question the true nature of rudeness, another interesting avenue of enquiry relates to embodyminded differences. Within early modern neurodiversity studies, it is proposed that scholars can ‘tentatively locate early modern neurodivergence in historical and literary accounts that record or depict non-normative (or simply less common) forms of cognitive, emotional, and sensory experience’ (Bartlett & Irish, 2025). This subsection thus moves away from neurodivergence as it constructed within a court setting towards Mi Heng's remarkable cognitive abilities.

I, your humble servant, know of a certain simple scholar, Mi Heng by name, of Pingyuan, a young man of twenty-four. His moral character is excellent, his talents eminent. As a youth he took a high place in study and penetrated the most secret arcane of learning. What he glanced at he could repeat, what he heard once he never forgot. He is naturally high principled, and his thoughts are divine. Sang Hongyang's mental calculations and Zhang Anshi's memorial feats compared with Mi Heng's powers are no longer wonderful. Loyal, sincere, correct, and straight-forward, his ambition is unsullied. He regards the good with trembling respect; he detests the evil with uncompromising hatred. Ren Zuo in unflinching candor, Shi Yu in severe rectitude, never surpassed him.

竊見處士平原禰衡：年二十四，字正平，淑質貞亮，英才卓犖；初涉藝文，升堂睹奧。目所一見，輒誦之口；耳所暫聞，不忘於心。性與道合，思若有神。弘羊潛計，安世默識，以衡準之，誠不足怪。忠果正直，志懷霜雪；見善若驚，嫉惡若讎。任座抗行，史魚厲節，殆無以過也。

Within Kong Rong's letter of recommendation, he writes: ‘What he glanced at he could repeat, what he heard once he never forgot.’ 目所一見，輒誦之口；耳所暫聞，不忘於心。This emphasis on his superior cognitive abilities reveals that they were uncommon, yet this is described as a desirable difference. While these abilities are beyond the norm, they are viewed positively. Excellent memory was seemingly regarded as a highly useful skill, and Kong Rong's description of Mi Heng prioritises these strengths as opposed to his social and communicative deficits.

It is worth noting that these capabilities of Mi Heng are revealed through an interlocutor, meaning that exaggeration is possible. Furthermore, it would be necessary within a letter of this form to highlight Mi Heng's strengths. Nevertheless, if we interpret this letter as exaggerated as opposed to representing Mi Heng's embodyminded cognitive capabilities, it reveals the value that was placed on these skills. That they overcame other types of deficits and that cognitive abilities were sought after for scholars. Mi Heng's skills are described as beyond those of Sang Honyang 弘羊潛and Zhang Anshi安世默, two erudite officials of the Han court, highlighting further how his thinking capabilities exceed normative expectations.

I therefore suggest that Kong Rong's letter acts as a lens, shedding light on what forms of neurodivergence are acceptable. Future Three Kingdoms discussions could explore lesser accepted cognitive, affective and/or sensory experiences within the novel, such as Cao Cao's epilepsy (Chapter 1), the melancholic drunkenness of Zhang Fei 張飛 (Chapter 2) and visions of Yu Ji 于吉experienced by Sun Ce 孫策 (Chapter 29).

Maddening the Conversation?

In light of recent provocations within early modern neurodiversity studies to consider Mad Studies as a guiding light and key interlocutory field (Bartlett & Irish, 2025, pp. 467–8), the present article concludes with a novel proposal for developing a maddened neurodivergent analysis. I have written elsewhere about the urgency of Mad and Neurodivergent coalitional approaches to literature (Downs, 2025), and I propose one suggestion for a methodological development. Prior to this, I offer not an overview of neurodivergent literary practices, but key ideas relevant to this present article.

As the field of Critical Neurodiversity Studies has begun to emerge, recent undertakings have been made to define its parameters within literary and cultural studies (Bergenmar et al., 2025, p. 10). As part of this project, scholars are increasingly concerned with reading literature in ways beyond considering representations of neurodivergence. Amidst ongoing marginalisation of neurodivergent individuals, especially those with other intersectional identities, critical neurodiversity scholars are presently interested in works by neurodivergent writers (Ashley, 2025, p. 73). While it is not possible to ascertain whether Luo Guanzhong or any of the writers whom he based his work on were neurodivergent, Ashley reminds us that we should avoid this impulse to neurologically gatekeep (ibid.). Another approach beyond representation is then perhaps to consider how to read texts neurodivergently, another nascent concern within the field. In one sense my choice to centre Mi Heng identifies him as ‘neurodivergent-like’ (see Mills, 2025), and I acknowledge the reparative action that potentially arises in identifying neurodivergent resonances (Hagopian, 2025, p. 172). However, the choice to centre a peripheral character also acts as a neurodivergent reading strategy, as it involves reading against main narratives to reveal what lesser-known stories could reveal about neuronormativity.

This centring of a peripheral character also resonates with recent research in Mad Studies (see Stefan, 2018), in which minor characters can provide insight into cultural understandings of madness, particularly as they are not afforded the same character development as protagonists. I view my neurodivergent reading to also be a ‘mad-studies-informed reading’ (Taggart, 2024, p. 2), and I propose the following strategy for establishing a maddened neurodivergent analysis. This focus on incorporating mad theory ensures that the neurodivergent reading aligns with mad logics, which is a novel intervention to the field.

I partake in ‘maddening’, an emerging analytic which involves having the logics of mad studies inform inquiry (Thorneycroft, 2020, p. 110). This strategy can offer insights into how neurotypological constructs coalesce with concepts of madness in the case of Mi Heng. Through this maddened neurodivergent praxis, we read literary neurodivergent depictions in the context of priorities outlined by mad literary scholars; including sanism, embodyminded experience, resisting metaphors of madness, and challenging institutions that delegitimise mad living (Eromosele, 2021; Stefan, 2018; Taggart, 2024; Taylor, 2020; Wolframe, 2014). By doing so, we can disrupt traditional scholarly analyses of madness and complexify neurodivergent literary readings (Pilling, 2025, p. 92).

“He spoke very impertinently,” said Zhang Liao. “Why did you not put him to death?”

He has something of a reputation; empty, but people have heard of him and so, if I put him to death, they would say I was intolerant. As he thinks he has ability, I have made him a drummer to mortify him.

遼曰：「此人出言不遜，何不殺之？」操曰：「此人素有虛名，遠近所聞。今日殺之，天下必謂我不能容物，彼自以為能，故令為鼓吏以辱之。」

Within this passage, we can see how failing to perform the socially expected manner of speech can result in death. Cao Cao's court is a punishing site, in which self-expression is gatekept. However, it is worth noting that Cao Cao does not execute Mi Heng, a typical punishment for disrespecting the social norms of the court. This is due to Mi Heng's fame amongst members of the public. In this instance, his neurotypological quirks are considered a form of madness, but not one that needs to be swiftly killed. Instead, he is subjected to ridicule and public humiliation. His reputation and position as an erudite scholar saves him despite his secondary role as a mad person.

It is important to note however, that Mi Heng's repeated inability to adhere to social rules through his clashes with powerful figures later does results in his death. His nature might be ‘loyal, sincere, correct, and straight-forward’ 忠果正直, however, he is still executed. It is possible to therefore view Cao's actions and the court's expectations more generally as a pre-medical industrial complex vehicle of sanism. Merrick D. Pilling notes that the use of maddening as an analytic has mostly been used in relation to the psy-complex and that its use will broaden over time (2025, p. 93). I therefore consider this story within Romance of the Three Kingdoms as a literary representation of a neuroableist sanism which precedes the psy-complex, where mad individuals who transgress the norms are met with persecution.

I also want to draw attention to the existence of mad and neurodivergent perspectives that would not be represented within the novel. After all, as Grey-Hammond (2025, pp. 43–44) reminds us, ‘there are individuals for whom their ‘madness represents neurodivergence so uncontainable that the world must frame it as a disease, locking us away and sedating us into compliance’. In a Maddened neurodivergent reading, it is not enough to consider the types of divergences from neuronormativity captured, but to think about neurodivergence that is too marginalised to be depicted.

Conclusion

This article has aimed to imbue Three Kingdoms studies with novel ideas from Critical Neurodiversity Studies and Mad Studies. In doing so, I have illustrated how neurodiversity as a lens can help understand the neurotypological norms underpinning Three Kingdoms, in addition to raising methodological considerations of how to madden neurodivergent reading praxes. Following McWade et al.'s call for ‘more work on (…) theoretical, conceptual, ethical and methodological tools (…) for producing a mad-infused and/or neurodiversity-infused knowledge, or praxis’, I have considered how mad and neurodivergent analytics can coalesce in a literary-critical context (2015).

Further studies could expand on reading different aspects of Three Kingdoms with Neurodivergent and Mad analytics, particularly in light of recent psychiatric explorations of the text (Pridmore & Pridmore, 2018). It is also worth considering the intersection between neurodivergence and madness within different cultural contexts, and that my understanding of which theories to engage with is undoubtedly rooted in Global Northern logics (see Vargas García et al., 2026). Nevertheless, I hope this article serves as one example of a maddened neurodivergent praxis, showing how my reading practice aims to adhere to the coalitionary justice politics sought after within Critical Neurodiversity Studies.

In this study of Romance of the Three Kingdoms I have considered constructions of a neurodivergent character and neurodivergent reading practice, but future research could address matters of neurodivergent readership and reception. This is a particularly pertinent concern for Three Kingdoms study, where there are numerous popular retellings varying on country (see Kwon, 2023; Zakou, 2002). The transmedia and international relevancy of Three Kingdoms is also very relevant, with the popularity of the video-game franchise Dynasty Warriors in Western countries. How neurodivergent readers such as Suzuki (2025) make sense of different Three Kingdoms iterations therefore emerges as another fruitful avenue of inquiry. I conclude by evoking Alison Kafer's provocation to read disability into seemingly disparate fields—through doing so I affirm the act of proactive neurodiversification as a legitimate research orientation, and encourage other Three Kingdoms scholars to take up neurodivergent reading considerations (2013, p. 149).

Note on Translations and Chinese-Language Text

Translations are adapted from Luo, G. 羅貫中. (2002) Sanguo yanyi 三國演義 [Romance of the Three Kingdoms]. Translated by Charles H. Brewitt-Taylor. Tuttle Publishing.

Chinese-language text is adapted from Sturgeon, D. 德龍 (2019). Chinese Text Project: a dynamic digital library of premodern Chinese 中國哲學書電子化計劃. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities. https://ctext.org.