Liu Dun ( 190s – 220s),
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 Theob ...
Ziren, was an official serving under the warlord
Sun Quan during the late
Eastern Han dynasty and early
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.
[''Sanguozhi'' vol. 63.]
Life
Liu Dun's ancestral home was Pingyuan (平原). During the chaos of the
end of the Han dynasty, he fled across the
Yangzi
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
to Luling (廬陵) where he was invited to the staff of its administrator
Sun Fu
Sun Fu ( 190s–200s), courtesy name Guoyi, was a cousin of Sun Quan, a Chinese warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty and later became the founding emperor of the state of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period.
Life
Sun Fu ...
, cousin and general to the warlord
Sun Quan. Liu Dun was skilled in divination with an expertise in astrology, he became famed in the south for it, predicting floods, droughts and uprisings. Sun Fu was impressed by Liu Dun's predictions, using him to help find the hiding places of local rebels
and appointed him as his Military Advisor (軍師 ''junshi''), while among the army itself he became popularly known by the nickname ''Shenming'' (神明 "Divine Brilliance").
Liu Dun later served under Sun Quan directly. In 204, Sun Quan was at Yuzhang, having remained there on his return from a campaign against
Huang Zu the year before
[''Sanguozhi'' vol. 47.] and became worried by a change in stars. Liu Dun warned there would be trouble in Danyang, a betrayal which was deemed to be foreseeing the assassination of Sun Quan's younger brother
Sun Yi
Sun Yi (184–204), courtesy name Shubi, was Chinese military general and politician who was a younger brother of Sun Quan, the founding emperor of the state of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period of China.
Life
Sun Yi was the third son of ...
, the Administrator of Danyang, by Bian Hong (邊鴻).
Liu Dun was also the author of a now-lost tome of his art
in a hundred volumes, which was praised by the scholar Diao Xuan (刁玄). However, Liu Dun was also noted for being secretive of his arts and declining to share it with others, resulting in his work becoming increasingly difficult for subsequent generations to understand.
See also
*
Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms
References
*
Chen, Shou (3rd century). ''
Records of the Three Kingdoms'' (''Sanguozhi''). Scroll 63.
*
Pei, Songzhi (5th century). ''
Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms'' (''Sanguozhi zhu''). Scroll 63.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Dun
Chinese astrologers
Officials under Sun Quan
People during the end of the Han dynasty
Sun Quan and associates