Lady Sun – The romantic Princess of the Three Kingdoms

Not to be confused with Empress Dowager Sun.

Lady Sun was the daughter, sister, and wife of Emperors. She was known to be a heroine who had put the interests of the Kingdom of Wu before herself. She has also been the subject of popular literature, where she is portrayed as a romantic heroine. She was not only popular in China but also throughout the world with video games and anime.

Lady Sun lived during Fall of Eastern Han and the start of the Three Kingdoms era. During this period, the Eastern Han dynasty was weak due to internal politics, and China was broken into three kingdoms which were Wei, Shu, and Wu.^[1] Even though China was broken, it still did not mean that men hadn’t tried to unify the nation during their era. Four of those men who attempted to reunify China were immediate family to Lady Sun. They were her father, two of her brothers, and her husband.

Lady Sun was born around 189 C.E. in Fucheng, Wu County (present-day Fuyang County in Zhejiang province). Her name is unknown. However, in the classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, she is given the name Sun Ren. Her father, Sun Jian, was a great powerful general and warlord of Wu. He also claimed to be a descendant of Sun Tzu, the legendary author of The Art of War.^[2] Lady Sun’s mother was Lady Wu. Both her parents would be made the posthumous Emperor and Empress of the Wu dynasty.^[3] She had four brothers named Sun Ce, Sun Quan, Sun Yi, and Sun Kuang. Sun Quan would become Emperor of the Wu dynasty.

In 191 CE, Sun Jian dreamed of unifying China.^[4] He led a battle against Liu Bei (the warlord of Shu and an imperial member of the falling Eastern Han Dynasty) also had the same ambitions as Sun Jian in reuniting China.^[5] However, Sun Jian was killed in the battle. From 192-200 C.E., Lady Sun’s family became homeless and destitute, moving from place to place.^[6] In 202 C.E., Lady Sun’s mother died.

During this time, Lady Sun’s eldest brother, Sun Ce, led a fight against Liu Bei but was killed in 200 CE. He was seventeen years old. His younger brother, Sun Quan, took up his father’s and brother’s fight. However, Sun Quan was losing against Liu Bei. Fearing that he would die at Liu Bei’s hands, he offered his younger sister, Lady Sun, as part of a marital alliance.^[7] Liu Bei agreed.

In 209 C.E., Lady Sun married Liu Bei. She left Wu for Shu and arrived in Gong’an (Shu’s capital city).^[8] She was in her early twenties. Her bridegroom was forty-nine and already had a chief wife.^[9] They were initially happy with each other, but it quickly fell into a relationship filled with suspicion.^[10] Liu Bei would always tremble at the sight of his wife.^[11] He did not feel safe in his own household.^[12] This was because she had over a hundred female servants, all of whom carried knives!^[13] “Whenever Liu Bei entered her chambers, he was struck by her piercing coldness.” ^[14] Liu Bei was not the only one who distrusted her. His own strategist, Zhu Geliang, also regarded her with suspicion.^[15] 

In 211 C.E., Liu Bei and Sun Quan were not on good terms.^[16] Lady Sun decided to return home.^[17] Before she left, she attempted to kidnap her step-son, the heir apparent, and make him a hostage under Wu.^[18] However, the attempt was unsuccessful, and she was forced to return on her own.^[19] In 220 C.E., the Eastern Han Dynasty fell, and Liu Bei proclaimed himself Emperor of Shu.^[20] In 222 C.E., Sun Quan proclaimed himself Emperor of Wu.^[21] Thus, China remained divided.

It is uncertain when Lady Sun died. It was said that she was buried in a river in Daoji.^[22] A mortuary temple named Favored Madame Temple was built in her memory.^[23] During the Qing dynasty, she was given the posthumous title of “Madame of Moral Integrity”.^[24] A plaque bears an inscription praising Lady Sun for her “intelligence and beneficence.” ^[25] Thus, Lady Sun was known for sacrificing her happiness for the good of the Wu kingdom.^[26]

Yet, Lady Sun is best remembered for being a popular icon in both the East and the West. In the classic Ming dynasty historical fiction novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, she is portrayed as a romantic and tragic heroine. When her husband, Liu Bei, had fallen under a dangerous trap set by his enemies, Lady Sun helped him escape.^[27] At the end of the novel, Lady Sun mistakenly believed her husband to be dead and became so grief-stricken that she drowned herself.^[28] In the 2008 movie Red Cliff, she is portrayed by the famous Zhou Wei. In this version, she disguised herself as a man to infiltrate the enemy army on behalf of her brother and husband.^[29] She has also been featured in a few video games like Dynasty Warriors, Warriors Orochi, Samurai Warriors, Kessen 2, and Total War: Three Kingdoms. She is even referenced in both the anime and video game Koihime Muso. Thus, even though her brother forced her to marry an older man for the good of Wu kingdom, Lady Sun did her best to keep an unsteady peace.

Sources:

Aiweng, L. (2015). Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century. (B. B. Peterson, Ed.; T. Danyu, Trans.). London: Routledge.

McMahon, K. (2013). Women Shall Not Rule: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Han to Liao. NY: Rowman and Littlefield.

Ching-Chung, P. (2015). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. – 618 C.E. (L. X. H. Lee, Ed.; A. D. Stefanowska, Ed.; S. Wiles, Ed.). NY: Routledge.