Chinese History

Vincentius Lennardo Paduatama 2016059076

Liu Bei was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han
in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Despite early failings compared
to his rivals and lacking both the material resources and social status they commanded, he
gathered support along 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 through this support. Liu Bei overcame his
many defeats to carve out his own realm, which at its peak spanned present-day Sichuan,
Chongqing, Guizhou, Hunan, and parts of Hubei and Gansu.
Liu Bei grew up in a poor family, having lost his father when he was still a child. To
support themselves, Liu Bei and his mother sold shoes and straw-woven mats. Even so,
Liu Bei was full of ambition from childhood: he once said to his peers, while under a tree
that resembled the imperial chariot, that he desired to become an emperor. At the age of
14, Liu Bei, sponsored by a more affluent relative who recognised his potential in
leadership, went to study under the tutelage of Lu Zhi, a prominent Confucian scholar
and government official. The adolescent Liu Bei was said to be unenthusiastic in studying
and displayed interest in hunting, music and dressing. Concise in speech, calm in
demeanour, and kind to his friends, Liu Bei was well liked by his contemporaries.

Becoming an emperor
Liu Bei declares himself king, portrait at the Long Corridor of the Summer Palace,
Beijing. In 219, after Liu Bei conquered Hanzhong Commandery, his subjects urged him
to declare himself a vassal king too to challenge Cao Cao, who was enfeoffed as a vassal
king ("King of Wei") by Emperor Xian in 216. Liu Bei thus declared himself "King of
Hanzhong" (漢中王) and set up his headquarters in Chengdu, the capital of Yi Province.
He designated his son Liu Shan as his heir-apparent. Wei Yan was put in charge of
Hanzhong Commandery. Xu Jing and Fa Zheng were respectively appointed as Grand
Tutor and Prefect of the Masters of Writing in Liu Bei's vassal kingdom, while Guan Yu,
Zhang Fei, Ma Chao and Huang Zhong were respectively appointed Generals of the
Vanguard, Right, Left and Rear.
In early winter 219, Sun Quan's forces led by Lü Meng invaded Liu Bei's territories in
Jing Province and captured and executed Guan Yu. After learning of Guan Yu's death
and the loss of Jing Province, Liu Bei turned furious and ordered his troops to begin
preparing for war with Sun Quan. In early 220, Cao Cao died and was succeeded by his
son, Cao Pi. Later that year, Cao Pi usurped the throne from Emperor Xian, ended the
Eastern Han dynasty and established the state of Cao Wei with himself as the emperor.
When Meng Da learnt that Liu Bei was going to launch a campaign against Sun Quan, he
became concerned that he would be punished for not sending reinforcements to Guan Yu
earlier, so he defected to Wei. At the same time, Zhao Yun, Qin Mi and others reminded
Liu Bei that he should focus his attack on Cao Pi instead of Sun Quan, but Liu Bei
rejected their advice. Seeing that Liu Bei did not prepare strong defences against Wei,
Meng Da suggested a plan to Cao Pi to attack Fangling, Shangyong and Xicheng
commanderies. Liu Bei's adopted son, Liu Feng, fought a desperate battle against the
invaders, but he was betrayed by his subordinates and defeated. Upon his return to
Chengdu, Liu Bei was furious with Liu Feng's loss and his refusal to send reinforcement
to Guan Yu in 219, so he had Liu Feng executed. In 221, Liu Bei declared himself
emperor too and established the state of Shu Han; he claimed that his intention was to
keep the Han dynasty's lineage alive. He designated his son Liu Shan as crown prince.
Died
Liu Bei died in Baidicheng in the summer of 223. On his deathbed, he named Zhuge
Liang and Li Yan as regents to support Liu Shan. His body was brought back to Chengdu
and entombed at Huiling (惠陵; southern suburb of present-day Chengdu) four months
later. Liu Bei was given the posthumous name Zhaolie. Liu Shan succeeded him as the
emperor of Shu Han, while Zhuge Liang later made peace with Sun Quan and rebuilt the
old Sun–Liu alliance against Cao Pi.
Opinion
I already read about the the romance of three kingdom and I really love the way Liu Bei
lead the Shu Kingdom. He really good at management and also think smart. In war, Liu
Bei said you cant win by number of armies but win by think smart for the strategy. The
film Red Cliff by director John Woo, the most expensive ever made in China, retells the
story of a battle on the Yangtze river, as Cao Cao's navy is moored on one bank while Liu
Bei and his accomplices are plotting on the other. In this war, Liu Bei run out of arrows,
they send a boat down the river past the enemy camp, and the enemy thinks, 'Goodness
me what is this?' and they fire a million arrows into the side of the boat. And they capture
them in straw, and so that's how you get spare arrows. Not only that, once Liu Bei
Knowing that the enemy has a spy in their camp, they publicly beat and humiliate one of
the most important generals so that this is reported back and his defection then looks
completely authentic. This prove that we can reflect the way Liu Bei think to our daily
life especially in Business.