Eastern Wu: A Visual History

Eastern Wu was the state founded in the lower Yangtze by the Sun family: Sun Jian, his son Sun Ce and, from 200, Sun Quan, who allied with Liu Bei to defeat Cao Cao at Red Cliffs in 208, took Jing province and killed Guan Yu in 219, and declared himself emperor in 229 at Jianye (Nanjing). Wu opened the south to Chinese settlement, sent fleets to Taiwan and Southeast Asia, and outlasted Shu Han. Sun Quan's later succession disputes and the tyranny of the last ruler Sun Hao weakened it; the Jin conquered it in 280.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Eastern Wu. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Registered population of the Three Kingdoms

Timeline of the Eastern Wu

1. 200
   Sun Quan succeeds Sun Ce
2. 208
   Red Cliffs
3. 219
   Guan Yu killed; Jing taken
4. 222
   YilingLiu Bei defeated.
5. 229
   Sun Quan proclaimed emperor
6. 230
   Expedition to Yizhou
7. 252
   Sun Quan dies
8. 264
   Sun Hao's reign begins
9. 280
   Jin conquers Wu

The Sun family

Sun Jian died fighting in 191; his teenage son Sun Ce carved out a base south of the Yangtze before being assassinated in 200. Sun Quan, aged 18, inherited it. In 208 he and Liu Bei's forces under Zhou Yu burned Cao Cao's fleet at Red Cliffs, ensuring the south's independence and China's tripartite division.

Empire of the south

Sun Quan seized Jing province from Liu Bei's general Guan Yu in 219 and repelled Liu Bei's revenge attack at Yiling in 222; he accepted Wei's overlordship briefly, then proclaimed himself emperor in 229. Wu subdued the Shanyue hill peoples, sent an expedition to Yizhou (probably Taiwan) in 230, traded with Funan and received Roman merchants. Its navy and Yangtze defences repeatedly stopped Wei.

Decline and conquest

Sun Quan's long reign ended in a poisonous succession struggle that split the court. Regents and child emperors followed; Sun Hao (264-280) was a paranoid tyrant who flayed and blinded courtiers. In 279-280 the Jin launched a six-pronged offensive down the Yangtze; Wu's river chains were burned through and Sun Hao surrendered at Jianye, reuniting China.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Cao Wei (220 to 266)
• Shu Han (221 to 263)
• Eastern Han dynasty (25 to 220)
• Western Jin dynasty (266 to 316)
• Eastern Jin dynasty (317 to 420)
• Xianbei state (93 to 234)

Wars of the same era and region

• Three Kingdoms period (184 to 280)

8 surprising things about the Eastern Wu

1. Sun Quan reigned for 52 years, longer than any other Three Kingdoms ruler, and Cao Cao reportedly said 'a son should be like Sun Quan'.
2. Wu's capital Jianye became Nanjing, later capital of five more dynasties.
3. The Wu court received merchants from 'Da Qin' (Rome) via Vietnam in 226.
4. Sun Hao ordered a courtier's face flayed for looking at him the wrong way; when Jin took him prisoner he was given a title and lived four more years.
5. The Wu general Lu Xun's victory at Yiling by fire is a set-piece of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
6. Wu's conquest of the Shanyue hill tribes added hundreds of thousands to its army and tax rolls.
7. The Wu navy had five-decked warships according to Chinese sources.
8. Wu is the origin of the Wu Chinese dialect group's name, spoken around Shanghai today.

Sources

• Eastern Wu Wikipedia
• Sun Quan Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Three Kingdoms Period World History Encyclopedia
• Rafe de Crespigny, Generals of the South (1990) Australian National University

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