The Wei reached a higher level of cultural development than the other two states. A new sect appeared in the realm of philosophy, called xuan xue (a school of Taoism) which took the three books—Lao zi (Book of Lao Zi), Zhuang zi (Book of Zhuang Zi) and Yi jing (Book of Changes)—as its "Three Classics". The founder of this school was Wang Bi (226-49), a native of Shanyang (now Jiaozuo City, Henan) and author of Lao zi zhu (Annotations to "Book of Lao Zi"), Zhou yi zhu (Notes on the "Book of Changes") and Zhou yi lue li (A Brief Exposition of the "Book of Changes"). Wang Bi preached that Non-being was more important than Being and the world of Being took Non-being as its substance. This theory of objective idealism boiled down to "acting without striving" or "letting things take their natural courses". In other words, it aimed to relegate feudal moral codes to a secondary position and provided members of the feudal upper strata with excuses for their greediness and indulgence. An ideological reflection of the depraved life of the upper strata at that time, Wang Bi's works nevertheless had extensive influence in the history of Chinese philosophy. Cao Cao (155-220) and his sons Cao Pi (187-226) and Cao Zhi (192-232) were all great names in literature. Cao Cao's poems, A Short Song and A Stroll Out of Summer Gate, written in a plaintive style at once virile and unrestrained, rank among the most famous in Chinese poetry. The Dian lun lun wen (Historical Allusions and Essays) by Cao Pi is the earliest piece of literary criticism extant in China. The poems of Cao Zhi have left their mark on the development of the wu yan shi (poems with five characters to a line).

The relationship between the three states began with Wu and Shu joining hands against Wei. Later the two allies fell out in their scramble over Jingzhou. In 220, when Guan Yu, commander of the Shu garrison in Jingzhou, was locked in battle with the Wei forces, Wu sprang a surprise attack, captured Jingzhou and killed Guan Yu. In 222, Liu Bei led a huge force out of Shu in an expedition against Wu. A decisive battle was fought at Yiling (north of Yidu County, Hubei Province), in which the Shu troops were routed. Liu Bei died the following year, and his son, Liu Chan, succeeded to the throne with the help of Prime Minister Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang switched back to the earlier policy of alliance with Wu against Wei, his aim being to drive north to occupy the Central Plains and recover the cause of the Han house. But the several northern expeditions he did undertake failed. In the last expedition in 234, Zhuge Liang died on his sickbed at the front at a time when his army was fighting to a stalemate with the Wei forces under the command of Field Marshal Sima Yi at Wuzhangyuan (southwest of Meixian County, Shaanxi Province). The Shu troops then pulled back to Sichuan. From then on, Shu declined while the state power of Wei gradually passed into the hands of the Sima family. After the death of Sima Yi, his sons, Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, successively held the reins of the Wei government, relegating the Wei emperor to the status of a figurehead.

In 263, Wei vanquished Shu. Three years later, Sima Yan dethroned the Wei emperor and established the Jin Dynasty (historically known as the Western Jin), with the capital remaining at Luoyang as during the Wei Dynasty. In 280, Sima Yan, later known as Emperor Wu of Jin, defeated Wu and unified—though only for a short period—the China that had remained divided for scores of years after the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

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