Lady Sun

Sister to Sun Quan and wife to Liu Bei, Lady Sun often felt her loyalty to both tested.

Lady Sun, or more famously Sun Shangxiang (traditional Chinese : 孫尚香 ; simplified Chinese : 孙尚香 ; pinyin : Sūn Shàngxiāng) as she is called in Chinese opera and in contemporary culture , lived during the Three Kingdoms era of China. She was the daughter of the warlord , Sun Jian. She had five brothers , the most notable being the two eldest , Sun Ce and Sun Quan , both of whom subsequently became warlords south of the Yangtze River. She is often depicted as a tomboy, as she received extensive martial arts training and her maidservants all wielded weapons , which was strange for her time.

She was wed to Liu Bei as his third wife , supposedly to secure the alliance between Sun Quan and Liu Bei. When Liu Bei turned west to attack the land of Sichuan , Sun Quan sent ships to bring her back.

Life

Sister of the founding Emperor of Eastern Wu (Sun Quan) , Lady Sun was the only recorded daughter of Sun Jian and Lady Wu. Sun Jian had two other daughters bore by consorts , older than Sun Shangxiang , who were recorded. One daughter was married to Hong Zi and highly respected the abilities of Zhuge Jin. The other was bore by a Lady Chen , who possibly was a concubine , and married Pan Mi.

Although history never recorded the given name of Lady Sun (or any of her sisters) , in legends , she is commonly referred by the name Sun Shangxiang. She was a woman of strong personality and this is shown in events throughout her life. The biography of Fa Zheng tells that she had the courage and energy of her brothers.

In 209 , she was given to Liu Bei to marry as a part of an alliance between Eastern Wu and Shu Han. At the time, Lady Sun was a little over twenty years of age but because of the marriage , she took general control over his household as well as guardianship over his son and heir Liu Shan. This is because both of Liu Bei’s former wives had already died of natural causes. Because Lady Sun was accompanied by more than a hundred female attendants, all of whom were capable of bearing arms , whenever Liu Bei visited her , he was scared. No children are recorded between them.

Two years later , however , in 211 , there was tension within the Wu-Shu Alliance over the affairs of Jingzhou. It was at this time when Sun Shangxiang returned to her brother’s court. According to Zhao Yun’s biography, Lady Sun attempted to take Liu Shan with her but was stopped by Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun himself. Through negotiations by the two generals , Lady Sun surrendered the young heir before she journeyed downriver to Jiangdong. It is through this event that the marriage and alliance effectively ended. She never met Liu Bei again , and presumedly never remarried.