The Jiangdong Princess of the Sun–Liu Marriage Alliance
Sun Quan’s sister, spirited and skilled in the bow and horse, her maids forever standing by armed with blades. During the Sun–Liu alliance she was married to Liu Bei, more than twenty years her senior — a match mostly of political calculation. After Liu Bei went into Shu, Sun Quan once sought to use her to spirit Liu Shan back to Wu as a hostage, only for Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei to intercept in time. The histories record her sparingly and her end vaguely; she is the most "independently minded" of the women of the Three Kingdoms.
To cement the Sun–Liu alliance, Sun Quan married his sister Sun Shangxiang to Liu Bei; the great gap in their ages gave the match a heavy political cast from the start. Lady Sun’s fierce nature and the spectacle of her blade-bearing maids gave even Liu Bei himself pause — the marriage was in substance a strategic binding of two great camps.
While Liu Bei was in Shu, Sun Quan sought, under the pretext of bringing his sister home to visit, to take the young Ah Dou (Liu Shan) along as a hostage; whether Lady Sun knew or took part the histories do not clearly say. Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei caught it in time and intercepted the boat on the Yangtze to retake Ah Dou. After this Lady Sun returned to Wu, and her marriage to Liu Bei simply lapsed — of her later fate the histories keep no firm record.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
That email didn’t look right? Free · unsubscribe anytime · Privacy