| Liu Bei | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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.svg) "Liu Bei" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 劉備 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 刘备 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 玄德 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | (courtesy name) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Liu Bei (Chinese: 劉備, ; Mandarin pronunciation: [ljǒʊ pêɪ]; 161 – 10 June 223),[3] courtesy name Xuande (玄德), was a Chinese warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of China.
Despite early failings and lacking both the material resources and social status his rivals commanded, he gathered support among disheartened Han loyalists who opposed Cao Cao, the warlord who controlled the Han central government and the figurehead Emperor Xian and led a popular movement to restore the Han dynasty. Liu Bei overcame a number of setbacks to carve out his own realm, which at its peak spanned present-day Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Hunan, and parts of Hubei and Gansu.
Culturally, due to the popularity of the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei is widely regarded as the ideal benevolent and humane ruler who cared for his people and selected good advisers for his government. His fictional counterpart in the novel was a salutary example of a ruler who adhered to the Confucian set of moral values, such as loyalty and compassion. Historically, Liu Bei, like many Han rulers, was greatly influenced by Laozi. He was a brilliant politician and leader whose skill was a remarkable demonstration of "Confucian in appearance but Legalist in substance".[b][4]
- ^ Volume 69 of Zizhi Tongjian indicated that Liu Bei crowned himself on the bingwu day of the 4th month of the 2nd year of Cao Pi's reign. ([魏文帝二年]夏，四月，丙午，汉中王即皇帝位于武担之南，大赦，改元章武.) The date corresponds to 15 May 221 in the Julian calendar.
- ^ According to Liu Xie's biography in Book of the Later Han, Liu Bei proclaimed himself King of Hanzhong on the gengzi day of the 7th month of the 24th year of the Jian'an era. However, there is no gengzi day in the month; the month corresponds to 30 Jul to 27 Aug 219 on the Julian calendar. [(建安二十四年)秋七月庚子，刘备自称汉中王] Houhanshu, vol.09. Vol.68 of Zizhi Tongjian recorded that Liu Bei proclaimed himself King of Hanzhong in the 7th month of that year.
- ^ de Crespigny, Rafe (2007). A biographical dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Brill. pp. 478–483. ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0.
- ^ Throughout Chinese history, no successful emperor had ruled purely based on Confucianism (though some did purely use Legalism). Numerous studies such as Political Reality of Transforming Legalism by Confucianism in the Western Han Dynasty as Seen from Selection System by Wang Baoding, or Aspects of Legalist Philosophy and the Law in Ancient China: The Chi'an and Han Dynasties and Rediscovered Manuscript of Mawangdui and Shuihudi by Matthew August LeFande, have pointed out most ancient Chinese dynasties after Qin had ruled by a mix of Legalism and Confucianism.
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