Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a Chinese television series based on the classical novel of the same title by Luo Guanzhong. The series was produced by China Central Television and was first aired on the network in 1994. It spanned a total of 84 episodes, each approximately 45 minutes long. One of the most expensive television series produced at that time, the project was completed over four years and involved 400,000 cast and crew members, including divisions of the People's Liberation Army from the Beijing, Nanjing and Chengdu military regions. Most of the dialogues spoken by characters were adapted directly from the novel. Extensive battle scenes were live-acted, such as the battles of Guandu, Red Cliffs and Xiaoting.