The Oath of the Peach Garden (義重桃園 or 桃園三節義) was an oath by which the three fighters Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu became sworn brothers in a ceremony amid peach blossom trees. This historical act bound the three most crucial men of the future Shu-Han Kingdom of China and is often alluded to as a true symbol of fraternal loyalty. An oath (from Saxon eoth) is either a promise or a statement of fact calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually a god, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. ... Liu Bei (161 - 223) was a powerful warlord and the founding emperor of the Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms era in ancient China. ... In the Romance of Three Kingdoms, Zhāng Fēi (張飛)(168?-222 AD), courtesy name Yìdé (翼德), was first a butcher, than an officer of the Kingdom of Shu and the second member of the Five Tiger Generals. ... Guan Yu (160 – 219) was a chiangchun (general) under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms period in ancient China. ... Binomial name Prunus persica L. A peachy dessert The peach (Prunus persica) is a tree that bears a juicy fruit of the same name. ... The Kingdom of Shu (蜀 shǔ) (221 – 263) was one of the Three Kingdoms competing for control of China after the fall of the Han Dynasty. ...

The oath, as it appears in Moss Roberts' translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms was this: Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Simplified Chinese: 三国演义; Traditional Chinese: 三國演義, Pinyin: sān guó yǎn yì), written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century, is a Chinese historical novel about the turbulent period often referred to as the Three Kingdoms (220-280). ...

"We three, though of separate ancestry, join in brotherhood here, combining strength and purpose, to relieve the present crisis. We will perform our duty to the Emperor and protect the common folk of the land. We dare not hope to be together always but hereby vow to die the selfsame day. Let shining heaven above and the fruitful land below bear witness to our resolve. May heaven and man scourge whoever fails this vow."

However, the section dealing with "dying on the selfsame day" is considered the most vital part of this oath, and in many translations the rest is dropped. This section best represents the ideal of true fraternal loyalty.

 The Goal of the Peach Garden Oath was to protect the Shu-han dynasty form the secret society of the yellow scarves.