LIU PEI

born AD 162, , Chihli, now Hopeh Province, China died 223, Szechwan Province Pinyin Liu Bei, posthumous name, or shih, Chao-lieh Ti, or Hsien Chu ruler of one of the three kingdoms into which China was divided at the end of the Han dynasty (206 BCAD 220). Although Liu claimed descent from one of the early Han emperors, he grew up in poverty. Distinguishing himself in battle in the great Yellow Turban Rebellion that broke out at the end of the Han, he eventually became one of the leading Han generals and a rival of the other great general, Ts'ao Ts'ao. After P'ei, the son of Ts'ao Ts'ao, usurped the Han throne in 220, Liu Pei occupied the area in central China around Szechwan and founded his own dynasty. Liu retained the name Han for his new dynasty, and his is usually known as the Shu, or Minor, Han to distinguish it from the Great Han dynasty. As one of the heroes of the 14th-century Chinese historical novel San Kuo chih yen-i (Romance of the Three Kingdoms), Liu has been celebrated and romanticized in Chinese history. The dynasty that he founded, however, never expanded much beyond Szechwan and lasted only from 221 to 263 or 264.