courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...
period of China. He was a son of
Cao Cao
Cao Cao () (; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde (), was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet. He was the penultimate Grand chancellor (China), grand chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he amassed immense power in the End of ...
, a warlord who rose to power towards the
end of the Han dynasty
The end of the Han dynasty was the period of Chinese history from 189 to 220 CE, roughly coinciding with the tumultuous reign of the Han dynasty's last ruler, Emperor Xian. During this period, the country was thrown into turmoil by the Yellow ...
and laid the foundation of Wei. Cao Yu's son, Cao Huan, was the fifth and last emperor of Wei.
Life
Cao Yu was a son of
Cao Cao
Cao Cao () (; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde (), was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet. He was the penultimate Grand chancellor (China), grand chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he amassed immense power in the End of ...
and his concubine Lady Huan (環夫人). He had two brothers who were also born to Lady Huan –
Cao Chong
Cao Chong (196–208), courtesy name Cangshu, was a son of Cao Cao, a warlord who rose to power towards the end of the Han dynasty and laid the foundation of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China. A child prodigy, Cao ...
and Cao Ju (曹據). He was enfeoffed as a Marquis of a Chief District (都鄉侯) in 211 during the reign of
Emperor Xian
Emperor Xian of Han (2 April 181 – 21 April 234), personal name Liu Xie (劉協), courtesy name Bohe, was the 14th and last emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty in China. He reigned from 28 September 189 until 11 December 220.
Liu Xie was a so ...
in the
Eastern Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
, and was promoted to a county marquis under the title "Marquis of Luyang" (魯陽侯) in 217.
In 221, a year after Cao Yu's elder half-brother,
Cao Pi
Cao Pi () ( – 29 June 226), courtesy name Zihuan, was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the second son of Cao Cao, a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty, but the eldest son ...
, ended the Han dynasty and established the state of
, Cao Yu became a duke, and was enfeoffed as the Prince of Xiapi (下邳王) in the following year. In 224, his princedom was changed from Xiapi (下邳; present-day
Pizhou
Pizhou () is a county-level city under the administration of Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, China. As of 2006 it had a population of 163,000; it borders the Shandong prefecture-level cities of Linyi to the northeast and Zaozhuang to the northwest.
...
,
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
) to Shanfu County (單父縣; present-day
Shan County
Shan County or Shanxian () is a county in the southwest of Shandong province, China, bordering the provinces of Anhui to the southeast and Henan to the southwest. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Heze
Heze, for ...
,
Shandong
Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region.
Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
).
In 232, during the reign of
Cao Rui
Cao Rui () (204 or 206 – 22 January 239), courtesy name Yuanzhong, was the second emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. His parentage is in dispute: his mother, Lady Zhen, was Yuan Xi's wife, but she later remarr ...
(Cao Pi's son and successor), Cao Yu's title was changed to "Prince of Yan" (燕王). Cao Rui had been very close to Cao Yu in his childhood and he favoured the latter, so he treated Cao Yu exceptionally after ascending the throne in 226 upon his father's death. In 235, Cao Yu was summoned to serve in the Wei imperial court. He returned to Ye (鄴; in present-day
Handan
Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shando ...
,
Hebei
Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...
) in 237, but was summoned back to the Wei capital
Luoyang
Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...
in the summer of 238. Cao Rui became seriously ill in the winter of 238–239 and he appointed Cao Yu as General-in-Chief (大將軍) in the hope that Cao Yu would assist his successor in governing the state. After serving as General-in-Chief for a few days, Cao Yu had the intention of resigning. At the same time, Cao Rui had also changed his mind so he relieved Cao Yu of his duty. Cao Yu returned to Ye in the summer of 239 after Cao Rui's death.
In 260, after the fourth Wei ruler
Cao Mao
Cao Mao () (241 – 2 June 260), courtesy name Yanshi, was the fourth emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was a grandson of Cao Pi, the first emperor of Wei. Described as intelligent and studious, ...
Sima Zhao
Sima Zhao () (211 – 6 September 265), courtesy name Zishang, was a Chinese military general, politician, and regent of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
Sima Zhao capably maintained control of Wei, which had been ...
, Cao Yu's son Cao Huan, the Duke of Changdao District (常道鄉公), was chosen to be the new emperor and he ascended the throne shortly after Cao Mao's death. Cao Yu remained as the Prince of Yan when his son was a nominal emperor under Sima Zhao's control. The number of taxable households in his princedom increased throughout the reigns of Cao Rui,
Cao Fang
Cao Fang () (232–274), courtesy name Lanqing, was the third emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. He was an adopted son of Cao Rui, the second ruler of Wei. Cao Fang ruled from 239 to 254 as a nominal emperor bef ...
, Cao Mao and Cao Huan until it reached 5,500. On 4 February 266, Sima Zhao's son
Sima Yan
Emperor Wu of Jin (; 236 – 16 May 290), personal name Sima Yan (), courtesy name Anshi (安世), was the grandson of Sima Yi, nephew of Sima Shi and son of Sima Zhao. He became the first emperor of the Jin dynasty after forcing Cao Huan, ...
forced Cao Huan to abdicate the throne in his favour, ending the state of Cao Wei and establishing the Jin dynasty. Sima Yan became the emperor and he granted Cao Huan the title "Prince of Chenliu" (陳留王). Cao Yu's status was reduced from that of a prince to a duke, so he became known as the "Duke of Yan" (燕公); he died in 278.( 寧年，陳留國上，燕公是王之父，王出奉明帝祀，今於王為從祖父。) ''Tongdian'' vol. 93.
Family
Consorts and Issue:
* Lady, of the Zhang clan ()
** Cao Huan, Emperor Yuan (; 246–302)
Ancestry
See also
*
Cao Wei family trees
This article contains the family trees of members of the Cao clan, who ruled the state of Cao Wei (220–265) in the Three Kingdoms period (220–280) in China. Only Cao Cao's lineage is shown in this article. The lineages of his relatives, such as ...
*
Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms
The following are lists of people significant to the Three Kingdoms period (220–280) of Chinese history. Their names in Mandarin pinyin are sorted in alphabetical order.
Fictional characters in the 14th-century historical novel ''Romance of ...
Records of the Three Kingdoms
The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...
Tongdian
The ''Tongdian'' () is a Chinese institutional history and encyclopedia text. It covers a panoply of topics from high antiquity through the year 756, whereas a quarter of the book focuses on the Tang Dynasty. The book was written by Du You from 766 ...
Book of Jin
The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, with chancellor Fang X ...