CHU-KO LIANG

born 181, Yang-tu, Shantung province, China died 234, China Pinyin Zhuge Liang celebrated adviser to Liu Pei, founder of the Shu Han dynasty (221-263/264). Chu-ko, to whom supernatural powers often are ascribed, has been a favoured character of many Chinese plays and stories. Legend states that Liu Pei, then a minor military figure, heard of Chu-ko Liang's great wisdom and came three times to the wilderness retreat to which Chu-ko had retired to seek him out as an adviser. It is known that Chu-ko helped Liu organize a large army and found a dynasty. Liu was so impressed with Chu-ko's wisdom that on his deathbed Liu urged his son to depend on Chu-ko's advice and urged Chu-ko to ascend the throne himself if the prince were unable to rule. A mechanical and mathematical genius, Chu-ko is credited with inventing a bow for shooting several arrows at once and with perfecting the Eight Dispositions, a series of military tactics. In the San Kuo chih yen-i (Romance of the Three Kingdoms), the great 14th-century historical novel, Chu-ko is one of the main characters; he is portrayed as being able to control the wind and foretell the future. In 1724 he was made a Confucian saint.