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4 Empresses and Consorts of the Three States

The Three States were established on the ruins of the Later Han empire,
and they inherited many of its imperial institutions and much of its
imperial ideology. To a greater or lesser extent, each of the three states
of Wei, Shu, and Wu sought to recreate the Han imperium. But
although they possessed the Han blueprint, the materials and context
they had to work with were not the same. The empire was no longer
united, and even within the individual states, central government
control at the local level was nominal at best. In the mid-third century,
the political landscape of China in many ways resembled the multistate
system of the Warring States period, when the various heads of state
were on more or less equal footing and the ability of one to prevail
over the others depended much less on any sort of moral authority than
on simple might and on strategic and tactical acumen. Indeed, in East
Asia the Three States connotes a period of struggle for supremacy
among a group of men known for their cunning, courage, and
commitment to comrades—a period not dissimilar to the Warring
States.

MARRIAGE PATTERNS

Although many of the concerns about palace women that had
occupied the Han continued to be important during the Three States,
the changed political context brought differences in their relative
importance and revived some pre-imperial concerns. Most important
among these latter was the use of marriage to cement alliances. There
were no interstate marriages such as those that had characterized the
pre-imperial period, yet in the struggles preceding the creation of the
Three States, short-lived marriage alliances were concluded among the
men whose families would ultimately rule the three states. These
marriages do not seem to have done much to change the balance among
the three states, but one of them did contribute to the lore of the period,
and it also provides insight into the possible roles for women at a time
when norms had been relaxed. In 209, while Liu Bei was still in Jing
province [OMITTED] and more than a decade before he entered Yi province

[OMITTED] and established Shu Han, he married Sun Quan's [OMITTED] (182-252)
younger sister. This marriage probably took place at the initiative of
Sun Quan, and it followed the general pattern of Sun marriage alliances
discussed below. If Sun hoped for much from this misalliance, he was
surely disappointed. The unconventional Lady Sun [OMITTED] was much
younger than Liu Bei and was considered to be as courageous and
capable as her brothers. She went about accompanied by armed female
retainers, and as relations between Liu Bei and Sun Quan soured, she
was seen by none other than Zhuge Liang [OMITTED] (181-234) to be the
potential source of a coup.[1] She left Liu Bei in 211 and returned to
her brother, attempting unsuccessfully in the process to spirit away the
young heir apparent Liu Shan.[2] Significantly, Chen Shou did not give
Lady Sun a biography, though we cannot be certain whether this was
because of her actions or because of some other selection criterion he
applied.[3]

Cao Cao resorted to marriage as a means of neutralizing the growing
power of Sun Ce [OMITTED] (175-200) at a point when Sun had acquired
Yuan Shu's [OMITTED] (d. 199) troops and gained some victories in the South
and Cao was being pressed by Yuan Shao [OMITTED] (d. 202). Cao's niece
was married to Sun Kuang [OMITTED], Sun Ce's younger brother, and Cao's
son Cao Zhang [OMITTED] (d. 223) was married to the daughter of Sun Ce's
cousin Sun Ben [OMITTED].[4] The marriages were undertaken to address
immediate circumstances, however, and had no long-term effect. The
importance of marriage pacts during this period lay not in concluding
alliances between states to ensure a state's security, but in cementing
ties with other families during struggles for supremacy within a region
or state. This was the case with Cao Cao, who recognized the value
of marriage as a tool for forming alliances with formidable families and
often married off his children accordingly.[5] But he and his immediate
successors also recognized the dangers of a woman who had a power
base and loyalties outside the court, and they were not inclined to turn
to powerful families in selecting their own empresses:[6] Cao Cao's
Empress Bian had been an entertainer, perhaps even a courtesan;[7]
though Empress Zhen was from a family of officials, she was married
to the defeated Yuan Xi [OMITTED] at the time Cao Cao appropriated her
for Cao Pi [OMITTED] (187-226); Cao Pi's future Empress Guo was an orphan
of little status when, as heir apparent, he acquired her; Cao Rui's [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] (206-239) Empress Guo [OMITTED] had been sent to the harem because
her home commandery rebelled, and his Empress Mao [OMITTED] was clearly
of plebian origins.[8] The grossly weakened Cao princes toward the end
of the dynasty did marry relatives of the previous empresses: Empress
Zhen [OMITTED] of Cao Fang, the King of Qi [OMITTED], was grandniece of Cao
Pi's Empress Zhen, while Empress Bian [OMITTED] of the King of Chenliu [OMITTED]

[OMITTED] (Cao Huan [OMITTED]; r. 260-265) and Empress Bian [OMITTED] of the Duke
of Gaogui District [OMITTED] (Cao Mao [OMITTED]; 241-260) were, respectively,
grandniece and great-grandniece of Cao Cao's Empress Bian.[9]
Under the Han, this pattern would have led to a dominant position
at court for one or another of the affinal families. At the end of the
Wei, however, real power lay with the Sima [OMITTED] family.

Of Chen Shou's three fascicles on royal women, that for Shu Han
is probably the least satisfying. The picture it affords of the marriages
of Liu Bei and his son Liu Shan is very sketchy. In contrast to the Caos
and the Suns, the Lius had no apparent marriage policy. Liu Bei was
the ruler of Shu for only two years, and unlike the Caos and Suns, he
had no extended family to draw on or to be concerned about in
planning marriages. Rather, with the exceptions noted below, Liu
marriages followed a pattern that might have been expected for a
military leader in Liu Bei's circumstances. He married women from the
families of his supporters, as did Liu Shan, who successively wed two
daughters of Zhang Fei [OMITTED] (d. 221), one of his father's closest
comrades. In contrast to the Suns, the Lius do not seem to have used
marriage to form the sorts of alliances with local elites that would be
important to assuring the position of a ruling group from outside the
region. But not all the wives of the two Lius have biographies, so it
is difficult to know whether or not there was a marriage policy directed
at local elites. Arguments ex silentio are always risky, but the fact that
no such unions are mentioned suggests that the Lius did not follow
a policy of alliance by marriage.

Interestingly, each of Liu Bei's wives who does have an entry in
Fascicle 34 is a secondary wife. Liu had one, perhaps two, principal
wives before he entered Jing province in 201.[10] During the period when
Liu was actively fighting in eastern China prior to 200, he was three
times forced to abandon his family and suffered the humiliation of
having his wife and children captured. The first time was in 196, when
he was defeated by Lü Bu [OMITTED] (d. 198), an ally of Yuan Shu.
Subsequently, Liu and Lü became allies, and Liu's family was returned
to him.[11] In 198, the two men became enemies again, and Lü once more
captured Liu's wife and children. Lü was captured and killed by Cao
Cao, and Liu was reunited with his family.[12] Finally, Liu was forced
to abandon his family yet again when he was implicated in a plot against
Cao, in whose service he then was.[13]

To console Liu Bei following his defeat at the hands of Lü Bu in 196,
his supporter Mi Zhu [OMITTED], head of a locally prominent and powerful
family, gave his younger sister in marriage to Liu.[14] Presumably once
Liu's first wife returned, he kept Lady Mi, though nothing more is heard
of her. Neither do we know anything further of the wife (or wives) who

had been captured and returned by Lü Bu.[15] We do know that one of
Liu Bei's secondary wives from this period, Lady Gan, accompanied
him to Jing province when he sought the protection of Liu Biao [OMITTED]
(142-208), and there she gave birth to Liu Shan. Following Liu's
assumption of the title of emperor in Yi province, Lady Gan, as mother
of the heir apparent, was made empress.

Liu Bei's Empress Wu [OMITTED] was a widow and the sister of an important
officer who first fought against and then on the side of Liu Bei.[16]
Noteworthy here is Liu Bei's concern that he might have been related
to her deceased husband Liu Mao [OMITTED]. Liu Mao was the son of Liu
Yan [OMITTED] (d. 194), the powerful shepherd of Yi province at the end
of the Han. Both Liu Bei and Liu Yan traced their separate ancestries
to Emperor Jing of the Former Han. Liu Bei claimed descent from
Emperor Jing's son Liu Sheng [OMITTED] (d. 112 B.C.), king of Zhongshan
[OMITTED], and Liu Yan from Liu Yu [OMITTED] (d. 128 B.C.), king of Lu [OMITTED]
[OMITTED]. With the judicious use of historical example, however, Fa Zheng
[OMITTED], a close adviser from Yi province, was able to convince Liu that
under the circumstances the marriage was permissable and advisable.
Still, the Eastern Jin [OMITTED] (317-420) historian Xi Zuochi [OMITTED] (d.
384) thought Liu erred in marrying Liu Mao's widow and criticized
him for it.[17]

Liu Bei had at least two other wives who were apparently with him
in Yi province but who do not have biographies in Records of the Three
States. Their existence is evident from the entries on two of his sons—
Liu Li [OMITTED] (d. 244) and Liu Yong [OMITTED]—who are described as being
Liu Shan's half brothers, each with a different mother.[18] Why Chen
omitted these women is not clear. Chen also seems not to have written
about all of Liu Shan's wives, for Pei Songzhi cites Xi Zuochi's Han
Jin chunqiu [OMITTED] [Han-Jin Spring and Autumn Annals] about a
certain Brilliant Companion Li [OMITTED], who committed suicide rather than
submit to the indignity of being handed over to a Wei general in need
of a wife.[19] Moreover, when Liu Shan tried to build up a harem, he
was told that in ancient times the Son of Heaven had only twelve wives
and that he himself already had enough, suggesting that he had at least
a dozen.[20]

Three of Liu Shan's wives are mentioned by Chen. These include the
two daughters of Zhang Fei mentioned earlier. Little is said about them
other than that they were both made empress, the younger upon the
death of the elder.[21] Also mentioned is Honorable Lady Wang [OMITTED], who
was the mother of Liu Shan's heir apparent. All we are told about her
is that she had been an attendant to the elder Zhang sister. The latter
half of the chapter is largely devoted to Liu Shan's heir apparent, his
half brothers, and their descendants.

Of the three ruling houses of the Three States, marriage alliances were
most important to the Suns. Indeed, they were crucial to the Suns'
establishment of their hegemony over Wu. As a consequence, of the
three fascicles translated here, Fascicle 50 contains more detailed
information about marriages than is found in the other two, and its
description of events in general is more vivid and engrossing. Whereas
the Caos already had a power base and were concerned with
maintaining their control over the imperial and governmental structure
of an existing—albeit weakened—state, the Suns needed first to
consolidate a power base, create an administrative structure, and
establish their right to dominance. To solidify their position, it was
necessary for the Suns to overcome three problems: the resistance of
the Mountain Yue [OMITTED], instability within the ruling group, and lack
of experience in governing a state.[22] The marriage policy they pursued
was important in addressing the second and third of these problems.

The preeminent position of the Suns had been gained through
military accomplishment, primarily north of the Yangtze, where Sun
Jian [OMITTED] (155-192) proved himself a talented commander, first against
the Yellow Turbans and then in the power struggles attending the end
of the Han.[23] Although the Suns were from the South, they were not
prominent there. The family claimed descent from Sun Wu [OMITTED], the
putative author of the famous fifth-century B.C. text Sunzi bingfa [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] [Sunzi's Art of War]—not a particularly impressive pedigree in
the context of the times. Before he made his mark in the wars, Sun
Jian held only minor office in his home area, and even there he
distinguished himself largely through arms.[24] Upon his death, his son
Sun Ce inherited command of a portion of his troops and likewise
embarked on a military career.

Given their background and lack of a solid base in the South, the
Suns needed the acceptance and support of prominent southern
families—something not easily gained. In the South, the closed society
of elite families that would become characteristic of Chinese society in
succeeding centuries was beginning to take shape. Several powerful
lineages had come to dominate the region. The most prominent—the
Zhu [OMITTED], Gu [OMITTED], Lu [OMITTED], and Zhang [OMITTED] families—were known as "the
four lineages" (si xing [OMITTED]), testimony to their importance.[25] But there
were other such families as well.[26] Their social position came through
holding office in the civil government for successive generations, and
they were inclined to look down on military men and their deeds.[27]
This attitude was very likely at the root of Sun Jian's rejection by the
relatives of Lady Wu [OMITTED] described at the beginning of Fascicle 50, for
although her family, the Qiantang Wu [OMITTED], were not among the
most prominent lineages, they nonetheless appear to have been a family

of some standing. The southern elite families were well established and
already dominant in the region, so there was no need for them to seek
power through marriage with the Suns. (Significantly, Lady Wu
overcame her relatives' objections not by arguing the benefits of
concluding such a match but by alluding to the potentially dire
consequences of not doing so.)[28] Moreover, their position vis-à-vis any
interloper bent on establishing control over the region was greatly
strengthened by the close ties among the families through
intermarriage.[29] To have attempted to crush the most powerful of these
families would have been difficult and costly.[30] For most of the
families—especially the four great clans—the Suns employed a series
of measures to win their support, or at least their acquiescence. First,
they assured the political and economic advantages of the elite families
by appointing their members to office in the central and local
governments and by permitting them to control significant bodies of
military manpower. Second, they showed these families respect and
trust through special courtesies and appointments. Finally, they
concluded marriage alliances with the leading families, thereby
effectively linking the fortunes of the two sides.[31]

The Wu section of Records of the Three States on empresses and
consorts offers dramatic examples of intermarriage between the Suns
and Wu elite families. Tables 6 and 7 of Appendix I are illustrative,
showing the Suns' links through marriage with the Lu and Zhu
families.[32] And because of the extensive intermarriage among the Wu
elite, a marital bond with one family brought ties with several others.[33]
Even marriage ties to lesser elite families could bring indirect ties to
greater elites. Sun He [OMITTED] married Zhang Cheng's [OMITTED] (178-244)
daughter, whose sister wed Lu Kang [OMITTED] (226-274). Sun Jian's
younger sister married Xu Zhen [OMITTED], and their granddaughter wed
Lu Shang [OMITTED], and then, following Lu's death, Sun Quan.

The Suns did not take their wives exclusively from the Wu regional
elite families. They also married women from local magnate families.
Sun Jian's marriage to Wu Jing's [OMITTED] (d. 203) sister is an example.
Wu Jing contributed substantially to the consolidation of the power
of the Sun family, and Lady Wu made notable contributions as well.
The Quans [OMITTED], also prominent in Qiantang, are another such family
(see Appendix I, Table 8). Marriage connections with the Quans,
however, proved to be a mixed blessing. Quan Rou [OMITTED] was one of
the first local elites to throw in with Sun Ce. His son Quan Cong [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] (d. 249) was among Sun Quan's ablest commanders and married
Sun Quan's daughters, and his nephew Quan Shang [OMITTED] held high
office in the Wu government and had a daughter who married Sun
Liang [OMITTED] (243-260). But Quan Cong's sons went over to the Caos

in 257 and subsequently became Wei commandery administrators and
marquises.[34]

Sun Quan also concluded marriage alliances with Zhou Yu, a shrewd
adviser and ally of Sun Ce and Sun Quan. Zhou was from a family
of prominent officials in Lujiang [OMITTED] and had two sons, as well as
a daughter who married the heir apparent Sun Deng [OMITTED] (d. 241).
Zhou's eldest son Zhou Xun [OMITTED] married Sun Quan's daughter Sun
Luban [OMITTED]. His younger son Zhou Yin [OMITTED] also married a member
of the royal family. Unfortunately, Yin proved to be something of a
wastrel and was a disappointment to Sun Quan, who banished him.[35]

Besides the Wu local and regional elites, the Suns sought wives from
families that were prominent for reasons other than economic and
military might. Sun Quan's Lady Xie [OMITTED] came from a southern family
with a reputation for producing scholars and worthy officials. Her
father had been a gentleman of the masters of writing and a prefect
under the Han, and her younger brother Cheng [OMITTED] became a commandery
administrator and was well known for writing a history of
the Later Han.[36] Associating themselves with the Xies had obvious
legitimating benefits for the Suns, whose reputation was based on
military exploits and who were considered rather unrefined. Lady Xie's
dismay at having Lady Xu [OMITTED] promoted above her may have been in
part because she considered a military family like the Xus to be her
inferiors.[37]

Still another consideration was probably at work when Yuan Shu's
daughter was taken into Sun Quan's harem in 199. This union was
likely motivated less by a desire to form a connection to a nationally
powerful family than by a sense of obligation and loyalty to a powerful
patron and ally. It served to recognize the role Yuan played in the Sun
family's rise to national prominence. Besides, although the Yuan family
for several generations had held some of the highest offices in the Han
empire, by this point it was fragmented and weakened by the struggles
that were hastening the end of the dynasty. Yuan Shu himself, having
failed in an attempt to establish a new dynasty, was dead. There may,
however, have been residual Yuan assets in the form of military forces
and other support to be gained by forming a marriage alliance with
the Yuans.

Sun men also married for beauty, though such unions could result
in problems. Sun Quan was smitten with Lady Pan [OMITTED] and took her
for his seraglio. She gave birth to Sun Liang, but she was considered
a troublemaker and was killed by several courtiers as Sun Quan lay
on his deathbed.[38] While touring military encampments, Sun Quan was
similarly taken with the beauty of the daughter of one of his
cavalrymen, He Sui [OMITTED], and she was summoned to the palace,

became Sun He's concubine, and bore a son. While she seems to have
been a devoted wife, her family took advantage of the chaos toward
the end of Sun Hao's [OMITTED] (r. 264-280) reign to arrogate power to
themselves, undoubtedly contributing to the fall of the Suns.[39] Sun Hao
himself was enthralled by Zhang Bu's [OMITTED] (d. 264) daughter, whom
he killed in a fit of rage. He reportedly was so heartbroken that he took
Zhang's other daughter from her husband and so occupied himself with
her that he ignored affairs of state.[40] This account is in accord with
what we know about Sun Hao's character, but it also fits the "bad last
emperor" topos emphasized by Liu Xiang in his Biographies of
Women.[41]

Not all of the wives whom the Suns chose for their beauty were so
problematic. Lady Bu [OMITTED], a relative of the chancellor Bu Zhi [OMITTED] (d.
247), was said to have been widely held in fond regard, and Sun Quan
had hoped to designate her as his principal wife.[42] We are told that his
officials opposed such a move, however, and favored Lady Xu for the
position. Since Lady Xu seems not to have been particularly congenial,
support for her may have been based on factional considerations. After
Lady Bu's death, Sun similarly hoped to make Lady Yuan [OMITTED], daughter
of Yuan Shu, principal wife. She was very modest and, because she had
no children, adamantly refused Sun's efforts to promote her.[43]

Finally, there were Sun Quan's two wives surnamed Wang [OMITTED], one
the mother of Sun He and the other the mother of Sun Xiu [OMITTED] (235-264).
Nothing is known about either other than their families' homes
of record and the fact that their brothers were appointed marquises
after the ladies' deaths. That Sun Xiu's mother's home of record was
Langye [OMITTED] may mean she was related to the Langye Wangs, who
were to become so prominent under the Southern Dynasties, but there
is no firm evidence for this.

SOCIAL ORIGINS OF CONSORTS AND POLITICAL POWER

It should be clear from the discussion of Sun marriage policies that
the social origins of prospective consorts remained a concern under the
Three States, though the underlying reasons may have been different
from those during the Han. For the Suns the question was not so much
one of finding spouses who were worthy of them as it was one of
establishing their standing in the region and linking up with the
powerful and wealthy. The Caos, in contrast, at times deliberately
selected women of humble origin, much to the exasperation of some
of the men who served them. Cao Pi and Cao Rui in particular were
criticized for their choices of empresses. Zhan Qian inveighed against
Cao Pi's desire to make Honored Concubine Guo empress, and when
Cao Rui failed to name Madam Yu [OMITTED] as his empress, she did not

hesitate to point out the Caos' proclivity for picking inferior women.[44]
Although powerful and prestigious families did sometimes place their
daughters in the Wei rulers' seraglios, social background was no
guarantee against a woman's ultimately being rejected. Madam Yu and
Madam Ren [OMITTED] are cases in point.[45] The extent to which the Lius
might have been concerned about the social origins of their spouses
is unclear. For the most part, Liu Bei's wives seem to have had
respectable backgrounds, though perhaps not always elite ones. Liu
Shan married the daughters of his father's comrade-in-arms Zhang Fei,
whose own origins were not particularly impressive, though his wife
was supposedly descended from one of Han Gaozu's most important
supporters.[46]

Related to the issue of the social origins of spouses was the problem
of their interference in affairs of state. The lesson of the dangers of such
involvement was part of the legacy that the Later Han bequeathed to
the rulers of the Three States. And it is clear that some, at least,
understood the importance of the lesson. We find, for example,
Zhongchang Tong, writing in his Changyan [OMITTED] [Frankly Speaking]
for the edification of Cao Cao, "You should not conclude marriages
with those to whom you entrust governing; those with whom you
conclude marriages you should not entrust with governing."[47] With the
lesson of the Later Han before him and with ample metaphysical and
cultural support at hand, it is not surprising that Cao Pi, the founder
of the Wei, quickly took steps to remove the potentially baleful influence
of the imperial women and their families. On 25 October 222, just
before he named Honored Concubine Guo [OMITTED] empress, he issued
the following edict:

Cao Pi's decree is reminiscent of the attempts of Emperors Guangwu
and Ming to achieve the same result; his effort was no more successful
than theirs had been.

The involvement of empresses dowager in the affairs of state was
another theme that continued into the Three States from the Han. The
Wei witnessed a reprise of the dismissal of Liu He as successor to
Emperor Zhao when Cao Fang was deposed as emperor by Sima Shi

[OMITTED] in 254. Again the young emperor was accused of being
dissolute, though this time not only with his boon companions but with
female relatives of more than one generation as well. A bill of particulars
was drawn up against him and presented by Sima Shi and more than
forty other officials to Empress Dowager Guo. The empress dowager
was then requested, in accordance with the precedent of Huo Guang's
deposal of Liu He, to take back the seal of the emperor and return
him to be king of Qi.[49] On 17 October 254, the empress dowager issued
a decree saying that although the emperor was now of age (he was
twenty-three), he did not attend to the affairs of state but preferred to
indulge in indecent behavior. Claiming that he was unfit to carry on
the imperial line or serve the imperial ancestral temple, she ordered the
matter reported at the ancestral temple and that he abdicate.[50] It is
certain that Empress Dowager Guo did not support this action, but
troops were posted outside her palace to ensure her compliance.[51] This,
of course, marked the difference between Cao Fang's case and the
deposal of Liu He: In the latter instance, the empress dowager
presumably supported the act (which her grandfather, after all, desired),
whereas Empress Dowager Guo was opposed. It is noteworthy that,
powerful as he was, Sima Shi still felt that he must work through the
empress dowager for the act to have legitimacy.

Shu Han does not appear to have had problems with interference
in the affairs of state by palace women, though the eunuch Huang Hao
[OMITTED] did dominate the later years of Liu Shan's court. Indeed, a
beneficial aspect of Huang's ascendency may have been to prevent
affinal families from gaining influence. The modus operandi of the Shu
court resembled that of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States
periods in that the closest confidants of the ruler were his ministers.
This was, of course, an outgrowth of Liu Bei's relations with his
comrades during the wars for supremacy that attended the breakup of
the Han. Because Zhuge Liang was able to maintain his influence as
Liu Shan's closest adviser for a decade following the death of Liu Bei,
and because the younger Liu was married to Zhang Fei's daughters,
the problems with affinal families experienced by the Han did not arise.

The situation in Wu was quite different from both Wei and Shu Han.
Sun Jian's wife Lady Wu and her brother were perhaps the model of
how a ruler's wife and her family should conduct themselves. Her
brother was a close adviser to Sun Jian, and following Jian's death he
supported the young Sun Ce rather than becoming a rival.[52] His aid
was crucial to Sun's ability to establish himself as his father's successor.
Lady Wu likewise made important contributions to her sons' success,
reportedly giving Sun Ce useful counsel that prevented him from
inadvisedly killing someone and creating resentment, and assisting the

young Sun Quan in administering the army and the state. From her
deathbed, she took steps to ensure that Sun Quan would continue to
receive good advice.[53]

Fascicle 50 contains examples of other women whose behavior could
be considered exemplary. One was Sun Quan's consort Lady Yuan,
who, as we have seen, declined the opportunity to become empress.[54]
Lady Bu, another of Sun Quan's consorts, was widely liked for her
generous nature.[55] Another example of model behavior was Sun Jian's
younger sister, whose son Xu Kun fought in Sun Ce's army. (Xu Kun's
daughter would become one of Sun Quan's consorts.) In a crucial battle,
she gave tactical advice to her son, which he passed on to Sun Ce. The
advice was adopted by Sun, and he was victorious.[56] The involvement
of Sun Jian's sister and Sun Quan's mother in military activities suggests
that the scope of activity for women of the Sun family extended beyond
the normal bounds. This conclusion gains further credence from what
is known of Lady Sun, Sun Quan's younger sister who married Liu Bei.
She is described a having an obdurate personality and going about
accompanied by female armed retainers.[57] Clearly these were
remarkable women, and their activities and personalities perhaps say
something about the nature of the Sun family, suggesting why this
family of relatively humble origins was able to gain the cooperation,
if not the respect, of the more venerable lineages of the Jiangnan region.

Unfortunately for the Suns, these women seem to have been exceptions.
A good portion of Fascicle 50 is taken up with machinations
and backstabbing among palace women. A case in point is Lady Pan,
whom Sun Quan married rather late in life for her beauty. She was
insanely jealous and inclined to speak ill of others behind their backs.
When she was exhausted and unwell from attending to the dying Sun
Quan, a group of courtiers strangled her in her sleep.[58] Throughout
the brief history of Wu, palace women engaged in intrigue, and their
families were not above betraying the Suns to save their own skins.
Members of the family of Lady Quan, wife of Sun Liang, were made
marquises and held numerous offices. In what was surely one of the
more bizarre episodes of the period, several of them, fleeing familial
conflicts and suits, crossed the Yangtze and surrendered to Wei just as
another member, Quan Yì [OMITTED], was supposed to be accepting the
surrender of a Wei general who had rebelled and who wanted to cast
his lot with Wu. The group that had surrendered deceived Quan Yi
into believing that Wu was angry with him and planning to execute
his family. Rather than accepting the surrender of a Wei general on
behalf of Wu, Quan Yi himself went over to Wei. Ultimately, the family
went into decline when a member was discovered hatching a plot, the
purpose of which is not known.[59]

The antics of such people make the Wu section the most interesting
of the sections on empresses and consorts. It differs from the others—
and from those in the three histories of the Han discussed in Chapter
3—in that it deals with more than just the emperors' wives and their
families. Imperial princesses are included as well. The comparatively
titillating flavor of the section is due in part to the personalities of the
people described. But perhaps this characteristic is also a function of
the position of Wu in Chinese history. Only if the Suns could conquer
the rest of the country and lay claim to Heaven's blessing would there
be grounds for considering Wu the legitimate heir to the empire. But
there were grounds for considering either Wei or Shu Han legitimate:
The last emperor of the Han had abdicated to the one, and a member
of the Han imperial clan headed the other. The marginal status of Wu
may have led Chen Shou to feel less need to be discreet in writing
about it, and he may have included the sort of material that he felt
constrained to suppress in his accounts of Wei and Shu. Another
motivation may have been Chen's association with the faction in the
Jin government pushing for an invasion of Wu (see Chapter 5).
Demonstrating the moral bankruptcy of the ruling house of Wu would
have been further proof of the correctness of the pro-invasion party's
position.

HAREMS

Aside from empresses and consorts, as we have seen, the Han harems
had contained large numbers of assorted concubines, handmaidens,
and the like. By the second half of the Later Han dynasty, the harem
was said to have numbered in excess of five thousand women, and there
had been frequent calls for reductions. Besides the enormous
expenditures such a harem entailed, one of the greatest concerns was,
of course, that the ruler would be distracted from his responsibilities.
The problem remained pertinent during the Three States, and the
behavior of both Cao Fang and Sun Hao demonstrated the dangers
to the state if a ruler were permitted to indulge himself. Both Wei and
Wu saw the creation of large harems. Cao Fang's lasciviousness may
have been encouraged by the example of his adoptive father Emperor
Ming, who built up a large harem that occupied his attention at the
expense of the affairs of state.[60] Although it is only obliquely mentioned
in one place in the translation below, Emperor Ming was criticized for
recruiting large numbers of young women for his harem.[61] One passage
from the Wei Epitome reports that he established eight wards in which
to house his ladies of talent (cairen [OMITTED]) according to rank, with those
holding titles of honorable lady (guiren) and lady (furen) or above
occupying the south side.[62] The Wei Epitome goes on to say, "The

emperor often amused himself and feasted there. He chose six women
who were literate and could send correspondence and made them
female masters of writing (nü shangshu [OMITTED])." Finally, the Wei
Epitome observes that "those from the honorable ladies (guiren) down
to shangbao [OMITTED][63] and those who swept the lateral courts [i.e., the
harem] or were versed in entertainment and song, each numbered in
the thousands." Chen Shou described the consequences of Emperor
Ming's excesses: "The emperor built palaces on a large scale and thus
made the people toil; he made extensive levies of girls to fill his harem.
The imperial sons born in the harem died prematurely one after another,
no heir growing up."[64] Emperor Ming's failure to produce an heir was
thus linked—at least in the historian's mind—to his profligacy, and by
extension, so was the fall of the Wei. Profligacy, then, was viewed as
a political problem as well as a moral one, for the growth of a harem
usually was taken to signal a decline in the emperor's engagement in
affairs of state. No doubt similar considerations were operating when
the young Liu Shan wanted to select women to fill out his harem, and,
as we have seen, Dong Yun responded that in ancient times the number
of wives of the Son of Heaven had not exceeded twelve. Dong simply
refused to carry out Liu's instruction, and although Liu acquiesced he
was not pleased.[65]

The Suns were apparently unconcerned about classical precedent. A
large harem developed there, too, and though one cannot be certain
when it began, by the reign of the final ruler, Sun Hao, it was said to
have numbered several thousand.[66] The libidinous activities of the Suns
were specifically cited by Chen Shou as one of the reasons for their
demise, and Sun Quan was likened to Duke Huan of Qi.[67] But the
lessons of Wei and Wu were lost on the Simas. The Jin continued in
their footsteps, taking over some five thousand women from among
Sun Hao's concubines and entertainers. And just prior to that, in the
seventh month of Taishi [OMITTED] 9 (August 273), Emperor Wu widely
selected women of good families to fill the rear palaces. He
accomplished this by first declaring a prohibition on marriage and then
dispatching eunuchs to search throughout the provinces for girls to be
sent to Empress Yang [OMITTED] for final selection. The Jin History relates that,
being of a jealous nature, she chose no real beauties—only those who
were "pure and mature." The families themselves do not seem to have
been keen to have their daughters join the harem, for many young
women are said to have made themselves unattractive to avoid being
selected, apparently as a sweet lady or an even lower rank.[68]

CONCLUSION

The story of the empresses and consorts of the Three States period
is the taste that proves the pudding of George Santayana's time-worn

dictum about what happens to those who forget the past. The examples
of four hundred years of the Han dynasty were manifest and accessible
to all who would benefit from them. And if the import of the lesson
was not immediately apparent, Han political and social critics had
provided clear interpretations. But the rulers of the Three States were
little inclined to master this lesson. Many of the problems associated
with Han consorts, their families, and the harems reappeared in the
Three States. There was nothing inevitable about their recurrence. As
with the Han, the nature of the problems surrounding palace women
grew out of the moral and political culture of the leadership of the
individual states and reflected the rulers' personalities, proclivities, and
weaknesses. Like the men, the women at a dynasty's beginning seem
generally to have been stronger and abler at carrying out their
sanctioned roles. As the quality of rulers declined, along with their
ability to perform properly the duties of their station and to keep their
appetites in check, so did that of the palace women.

In the years prior to the founding of Wei, Cao Cao adopted a policy
of selecting men of ability and attached little importance to birth. This
policy found its analogue in the selection of palace women. Cao Cao's
own pedigree was anything but elite, and he did not feel obligated to
turn to the prominent families for his wives. Although this eliminated
the danger of affinal families coming to dominate the government, it
did not prevent a consort from being able to manipulate an emperor
for her own ends, as the case of Empress Zhen demonstrates.[69] But
whether the palace women might distract a ruler from the affairs of
state was more a function of the inclinations and will of the ruler than
of the women themselves. Emperor Ming and his adoptive son Cao
Fang increasingly directed their interests toward the harem and away
from their responsibilities as heads of state—with predictable results.

Shu Han provided the counterexample. The position of palace
women there was relatively weak, and their families did not exercise
untoward influence on the Lius. One important reason was that the
principal consorts—aside from Liu Bei's wife Lady Wu—did not have
roots in the region, and there were no broad networks of affinal relatives
to try to manipulate the ruler or his consort. Another factor was the
continuing influence of Liu Bei's trusted advisers after his death and
their ability to deter Liu Shan's incipient desire to replicate the examples
of his counterparts in the other two states. Had this not been the case,
Shu Han might well have followed the same path.

In several ways, Wu represented a special case. Marriage alliances
were crucial to the foundation and survival of the Wu state. The Suns
married women who came from families of higher social standing, and
these women may have felt little need to defer to their husbands. The
culture of the Wu court seems to have been comparatively open and

freewheeling, permitting women to play a stronger role than elsewhere.
During the family's struggle for ascendency and in the early years of
the Wu state, Sun women were matches for the early, strong Sun male
leadership. Sun Jian's sister and Sun Quan's mother both seem to have
been capable of offering informed advice on political and military
affairs. Lady Sun had a strong martial bent and was considered as
capable and courageous as her brothers. Whether such women were
common in the Jiangnan region or unique to the Sun family is unknown
but is a question worthy of further study because of its implications
for our understanding of the different roles of women in early imperial
China. Yet as the quality of the leadership declined, so did that of the
palace women, until, like Wei, Wu found its rulers sunk in debauchery
and unable to preserve the state. Thus while writers in early imperial
China might complain about the malignant influence of women, in
truth responsibility lay with the men who set the conditions under
which they lived and acted.