Lady Bu (died 238), personal name Bu Lianshi,
was a concubine of
Sun Quan, the founding emperor of the state of
Eastern Wu in the
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 Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...
period of China. She has posthumously been honoured as an empress by Sun Quan. She is also known as Empress Bu.
Life
Lady Bu was from Huaiyin County (),
Linhuai Commandery (), which is in present-day
Huai'an
Huai'an (), formerly called Huaiyin () until 2001, is a prefecture-level city in the central part of Jiangsu province in East China, Eastern China. Huai'an is situated almost directly south of Lianyungang, southeast of Suqian, northwest of Yan ...
,
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...
. She was born sometime in the late
Eastern Han dynasty. She was a relative of
Bu Zhi. When she was young, her mother brought her from Huaiyin to Lujiang Commandery (; around present-day
Anqing,
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
). In 199, Lujiang was
conquered by the warlord
Sun Ce, who controlled the territories in the
Jiangdong region (also called
Wu, covering present-day southeastern China), after which Lady Bu moved from Lujiang to Jiangdong. In Jiangdong, Lady Bu was noticed by Sun Ce's younger brother,
Sun Quan, for her beauty and she became Sun Quan's concubine. Sun Quan favoured her the most among all his wives. She bore Sun Quan two daughters:
Sun Luban and
Sun Luyu
Sun Luyu (died 255), courtesy name Xiaohu, was an imperial princess of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. She was the younger daughter of Sun Quan, the founding emperor of Wu, and his concubine Bu Lianshi. She is ...
.
Lady Bu was known to be very accepting towards Sun Quan's other wives and she did not show any signs of jealousy towards them. As such, she remained in her husband's favour in the long term. In 229, when Sun Quan declared himself emperor and established the state of
Eastern Wu, he wanted to install Lady Bu as the empress even though his subjects nominated
Lady Xu to be the empress instead. Sun Quan eventually agreed to his subjects' suggestion. Despite so, in the following ten years or so, the imperial family and everyone in the palace referred to Lady Bu as the Empress. Lady Bu died in 238 and was posthumously honoured as an empress by Sun Quan.
She was interred in the Jiang Mausoleum (; at the
Purple Mountain,
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
,
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...
).
[() ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 50.]
Lady Bu's personal name was not recorded in her biography in the ''
Records of the Three Kingdoms'' (''Sanguozhi''), the authoritative source for the history of the
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 Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...
period. However, the ''Jiankang Shilu'' mentioned that her personal name was "Lianshi", hence she was also known as "Bu Lianshi".
[(
]
In popular culture
Lady Bu is first introduced as a playable character in the Dynasty Warriors 7">seventh installment of Koei's ''Dynasty Warriors'' video game series. She is referred to as "Lian Shi" in the game.
See also
* Eastern Wu family trees#Sun Quan
* Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms
Notes
References
* Chen Shou, Chen, Shou (3rd century). '' Records of the Three Kingdoms'' (''Sanguozhi'').
* Xu, Song ( 8th century). ''Jiankang Shilu'' ().
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bu, Lady
People of Eastern Wu
Year of birth unknown
238 deaths
Chinese imperial consorts
People from Huai'an
Family of Sun Quan
Eastern Wu posthumous empresses