Lady Sun, also known as Sun Ren in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Sun Shangxiang in Chinese opera and contemporary culture, was a Chinese noblewoman who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty. She was a daughter of the warlord Sun Jian, and her (known) older brothers were the warlords Sun Ce and Sun Quan, who founded the state of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period. Sometime in 209, she married the warlord Liu Bei to strengthen an alliance between Liu Bei and Sun Quan. Around 211, she returned to Sun Quan's domain when Liu Bei left Jing Province and settled in Yi Province.
A Qing dynasty illustration of Lady Sun
Peking opera star Li Shengsu as Sun Shangxiang, Beijing, 4 January 2020.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD and ending with the reunification of the land in 280 by the Western Jin. The novel is based primarily on the Records of the Three Kingdoms, written by Chen Shou in the 3rd century.
Title pages from a 1591 printed edition of the novel
Three Heroes of Three Kingdoms, silk painting by Sekkan Sakurai (1715–1790), depicting Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.
Liu Bei recruiting Zhuge Liang, from Visiting the Thatched Hut Three Times, a Ming dynasty painting by Dai Jin (1388–1462).
Traditional site of the Red Cliffs.