Lady Sun

Life

Lady Sun was the only daughter of Sun Jian and Lady Wu. She had four brothers who were also born to Lady Wu – Sun Ce, Sun Quan, Sun Yi and Sun Kuang. Her personal name was not recorded in history.

Sometime in 209, Lady Sun married the warlord Liu Bei to strengthen an alliance between Liu Bei and Sun Quan. The marriage probably took place at Gong'an County because Gong'an County was the provincial capital of Jing Province and Liu Bei was nominally serving as the provincial governor at the time. Lady Sun was known to be wise and shrewd, and tough and fierce in character, very much like her brother Sun Quan. She had more than a hundred female servants, all of whom carried swords and stood guard outside her room. Whenever Liu Bei entered her room, he felt a chill in his heart. Liu Bei was also suspicious and fearful of Lady Sun. Liu Bei's adviser Zhuge Liang once said, "When our lord (Liu Bei) was in Gong'an, he dreaded Cao Cao's influence in the north and feared Sun Quan's presence in the east. Even in home territory he was afraid that Lady Sun would cause trouble."

Around 211, Liu Bei left Jing Province on a campaign to attack the warlord Liu Zhang in Yi Province (covering present-day Sichuan and Chongqing) while Lady Sun remained behind in Jing Province. Liu Bei knew that his general Zhao Yun was a serious and conscientious person, so he specially put Zhao Yun in charge of internal affairs (in Jing Province). When Sun Quan heard that Liu Bei had travelled to Yi Province, he sent a ship to fetch his sister back. Lady Sun attempted to bring Liu Bei's son Liu Shan, who was born to Liu Bei's first wife Lady Gan, with her back to Sun Quan's territory. However, Liu Bei's generals Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei led their men to intercept her on the way and managed to retrieve Liu Shan and recapture Lady Sun. Nothing was recorded in history about what happened to Lady Sun after she returned home.

Names

Other names of Lady Sun include:

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Lady Sun appears as a character in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, which romanticises the historical events before and during the Three Kingdoms period. In the novel, her name was Sun Ren (孫仁) – possibly a corruption of her name Sun Renxian (孫仁獻) as recorded in the historical text Hanjin Chunqiu (漢晉春秋). In the novel, she is depicted as a very fiery and determined woman; however, the footnotes of the novel state that she was considered a handful to deal with and Liu Bei's followers had to keep an eye on her to make sure she did not run amok.

See the following for some fictitious stories in Romance of the Three Kingdoms involving Lady Sun:

In popular culture

Lady Sun is one of the first female playable characters to make a debut in Koei's Dynasty Warriors video game series. She also appears in Warriors Orochi, a crossover between Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. She is referred to as "Sun Shang Xiang" in the first seven instalments in the series, and as "Sun Shangxiang" from the eighth instalment onwards.

In Koei's Kessen 2 she is named "Sun Li" and is one of Liu Bei's many love interests.

Chinese actress Zhao Wei portrayed Sun Shangxiang in the 2008 Chinese epic war film Red Cliff directed by John Woo. In the first part, she and her all-female bodyguards lured Cao Cao's troops into an ambush. In the second part, she infiltrates Cao Cao's camp and draws a map of the enemy formation.

Lady Sun is referenced in the game and anime series Koihime Musō in which she is named "Sonshōkō" (or "Shaoren"). She charges out of the kingdom to fight against the Hongo Faction who are falsely accused of betraying the Go faction. After being captured by Hongo Faction and clearing up the misunderstanding, she likes Kazuto and enjoys playing around with him.

Lady Sun was portrayed by Pets Tseng in the 2009 Taiwanese idol drama series K.O.3an Guo, which spoofs Romance of the Three Kingdoms in a present-day high school setting. In the drama, Sun is the love interest of Xiu, who is the Iron Dimension counterpart of Liu Bei.