Sun Shangxiang

Illustration of a Qing edition of the story of the Three Kingdoms .

Sun Shangxiang ( Chinese  孫尚香  /  孙尚香 , Pinyin Sūn Shàngxiāng ; * 192 , † in the 3rd century ) was the only daughter of the Chinese warlord Sun Jian and his wife Wu . She had four brothers: Sun Ce , Sun Quan , Sun Yi, and Sun Kuang . She is often portrayed as a boy in art and poetry , and her servants guard her.

While little is known about her life from historical sources, her character takes on more significance in Luo Guanzhong's historical novel The Tale of the Three Kingdoms . Her brother Sun Quan, now ruler of Wu, betrothed her to the warlord Liu Bei in order to strengthen his alliance with him. However, this promise turns out to be a trap used by General Zhou Yu to force Liu Bei to return Jing Province. Before that happens, Liu Bei and Sun Shangxiang flee to his kingdom, Shu. On the run, she proves herself brave and bold in defending herself against the Wu officers who are pursuing her, and she falls in love with Liu Bei.

When Liu Bei was once on a campaign in Yi Province, Sun Quan released the false news that his mother was seriously ill and that she and her stepson Liu Shan would like to see her daughter one last time. Sun Quan's plan is to take young son Liu Beis hostage. When Sun is about to leave Shangxiang, General Zhao Yun prevents her from taking the young heir to Wu. Sun Shangxiang goes to Wu alone and never sees Liu Bei again. When she later learns of Liu Bei's death after the battle of Xiaoting , she rides out into the forest and throws herself into a river.

She has an unusual character among the female characters in the novel. She is of a fiery and determined nature, very much in contrast to the seductress Diaochan . In the video game series Dynasty Warriors , in which she fights as a playable heroine with the Shakram , her essence from the novel comes into its own.

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Sun is the family name here, Shangxiang is the first name.