Shu Han: A Visual History

Shu Han was founded in 221 when Liu Bei, a distant Han imperial kinsman and warlord, declared himself emperor at Chengdu, claiming to continue the Han after Cao Pi's usurpation. Based in Sichuan with the strategist Zhuge Liang, it fought Cao Wei in repeated northern expeditions and lost Jing province and Guan Yu to Wu. Zhuge Liang's death in 234 and the incompetence of Liu Bei's son Liu Shan led to conquest by Wei in 263. It is the hero-kingdom of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Shu Han. 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 Shu Han

1. 207
   Liu Bei recruits Zhuge LiangThree visits to the thatched cottage.
2. 208
   Red Cliffs
3. 214
   Liu Bei takes Chengdu
4. 219
   Guan Yu killed
5. 221
   Liu Bei proclaims himself emperor
6. 222
   Yiling
7. 228
   First northern expedition
8. 234
   Zhuge Liang dies
9. 263
   Shu Han surrenders

Liu Bei

Liu Bei, a sandal-weaver's son of imperial descent, spent decades as a minor warlord with his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei before recruiting Zhuge Liang, who advised him to take Sichuan and ally with Sun Quan. After Red Cliffs he took Jing province and, in 214, Sichuan. When Cao Pi ended the Han in 220 Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor of Han in 221; his campaign to avenge Guan Yu against Wu ended in disaster at Yiling in 222 and he died at Baidicheng in 223.

Zhuge Liang

As regent for Liu Shan, Zhuge Liang restored the alliance with Wu, pacified the southern tribes (the seven captures of Meng Huo in legend), reformed the administration and led five expeditions against Wei through the mountains from 228 to 234, none decisive. He died on campaign at Wuzhang Plains, leaving the reputation of China's most loyal and ingenious minister.

Fall

Jiang Wei continued the northern expeditions with diminishing returns while Liu Shan trusted the eunuch Huang Hao. In 263 the Wei generals Zhong Hui and Deng Ai invaded; Deng Ai crossed the trackless mountains to appear before Chengdu and Liu Shan surrendered. Taken to Luoyang, he reportedly said he was too happy there to miss Shu.

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)
• Eastern Wu (222 to 280)
• Eastern Han dynasty (25 to 220)
• Western Jin dynasty (266 to 316)
• Xianbei state (93 to 234)
• Former Zhao (Han Zhao) (304 to 329)

Wars of the same era and region

• Three Kingdoms period (184 to 280)

8 surprising things about the Shu Han

1. Guan Yu was deified after his death and is now worshipped as the god of war and of loyalty in temples across the Chinese world.
2. Zhuge Liang is credited with inventing the wheelbarrow, the repeating crossbow, sky lanterns and steamed buns, mostly by legend.
3. The 'empty fort strategy', in which Zhuge Liang sat playing the zither on the walls of an undefended city, is fiction.
4. Liu Shan's remark that he did not miss Shu became the idiom 'le bu si Shu', for someone who forgets home in pleasure.
5. The Zhuge Liang shrine at Chengdu is one of China's most visited historic sites.
6. Shu's population was less than a quarter of Wei's; its survival for 40 years was a strategic feat.
7. Deng Ai's army rolled down cliffs wrapped in felt to bypass the Shu defences in 263.
8. Zhuge Liang's Chu Shi Biao memorial to the throne is a set text in Chinese schools.

Sources

• Shu Han Wikipedia
• Zhuge Liang Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Three Kingdoms Period World History Encyclopedia
• Rafe de Crespigny, A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (2007) Brill

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