Died (Unknown) Simplified Chinese 刘劭 Wade–Giles Liu Shao | Traditional Chinese 劉劭 Pinyin | |
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Courtesy name Kongcai (Chinese: 孔才; pinyin: Kǒngcái; Wade–Giles: K'ung-ts'ai) | ||
Liu Shao, courtesy name Kongcai (孔才), was an official of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. He often provided advice to the emperor Cao Rui, and was praised by Cao Rui for his good advice, even though Cao Rui did not frequently actually act on the advice. He also wrote poems to try to discourage Cao Rui from military and palace-building projects. When the rival state Eastern Wu's emperor Sun Quan attacked Hefei in 234, according to Records of the Three Kingdoms, it was at Liu Shao's suggestion that Cao Rui sent his forces to try to cut off Sun Quan's supply route, rather than engage Sun Quan directly, a strategy that forced Sun Quan to withdraw. (However, according to Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian, it was Tian Yu who offered this advice, not Liu Shao.)
Liu Shao was also the author of the People Records (人物志), an early Chinese treatise on human character.