Name	Yue
Imagecaption	Yuht Yúh/Jyut6 jyu5 (''Yue'') written in traditional Chinese (left) and simplified Chinese (right) characters
Nativename	粵語/粤语/
Familycolor	Sino-Tibetan
States	China, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu), Vietnam, Indonesia (Medan), United States, Canada, United Kingdom and other countries where Cantonese migrants have settled.
Speakers	56 million in 1984
Region	in China: the Pearl River Delta (central Guangdong; Hong Kong, Macau); the eastern and southern Guangxi; parts of Hainan;
Fam2	Sinitic
Fam3	Chinese
Fam4	Ping–Yue
Dia1	Yuehai (Cantonese)
Dia2	Siyi (Taishanese)
Dia3	Gao-Yang
Dia4	Yong-Xun
Dia5	Goulou
Dia6	Luo-Guang
Dia7	Qin-Lian
Dia8	Wu-Hua
Dia9	Hainan Yue
Script	Traditional Chinese
Nation	Hong Kong and Macau (''de facto,'' though officially referred to as "Chinese"; Cantonese and occasionally Mandarin are used in government). Recognised regional language in Suriname.
Map	Cantonese in China.png
Iso1	zh|iso2bchi|iso2tzho|iso3yue
Notice	IPA }}

Yue, commonly known as Cantonese, is a primary branch of Chinese spoken in southern China.

The issue of whether Yue is a language in its own right or a dialect of a single Chinese language depends on conceptions of what a language is. Like the other branches of Chinese, Yue is considered a dialect for ethnic, political, and cultural reasons, but it is also considered a distinct language because of linguistic reasons. Spoken Cantonese is mutually unintelligible with other varieties of Chinese, though intelligible to a certain degree in its written form.

The areas of China with the highest concentration of speakers are the provinces of Guangdong and (eastern) Guangxi and the regions of Hong Kong and Macau. There are also substantial Cantonese- and Taishanese-speaking minorities overseas in Southeast Asia, Canada, Australia, and the United States.

Names

The prototypical use of the name "Cantonese" in English is for the Guangzhou (Canton) dialect of Yue, but it is commonly used for Yue as a whole. To avoid confusion, academic texts may call the primary branch of Chinese ''Yue,'' following the Mandarin pinyin spelling, and either restrict "Cantonese" to its common usage as the dialect of Guangzhou, or avoid the term "Cantonese" altogether and distinguish Yue from Canton or Guangzhou dialect.

In Chinese, people of Hong Kong, of Macau, and Cantonese immigrants abroad usually call the Yue language ''Gwóngdùng wá'' (廣東話) "speech of Guangdong". People of Guangdong and Guangxi do not use that term, but rather ''Yuht Yúh'' (粵語) "Yue language". They also use ''baahk wá'' (}}) on its own to refer to the Guangzhou dialect. It is also used to refer to Yue dialects in Guangxi, as for example in an expression like "南宁白话", which means the ''baak waa'' of Nanning.

History

Relation to Classical Chinese

Since the pronunciation of all modern varieties of Chinese are different from Old Chinese or Middle Chinese, characters that once rhymed in poetry may no longer do so today. Some linguists agree to some extent that Cantonese is closer to classical Chinese in its pronunciation and some grammar. Many poems that don't rhyme in Mandarin do so in Cantonese. Cantonese retains a flavour of archaic and ancient Chinese, and this has been used to study ancient Chinese culture.

Qin and Han

In the Qin Dynasty Chinese troops moved southward and conquered the Baiyue territories, and many Han people began settling in the Lingnan area. This migration led to the Chinese language being spoken in the Lingnan area. After Zhao Tuo was made the Duke of Nanyue by the Qin Dynasty and given authority over the Nanyue region, many Han people entered the area and lived together with the Nanyue population, consequently affecting the lifestyle of the Nanyue people as well as stimulating the spread of the Chinese language.

Sui

Before Emperor Yang Jian or Sui wendi of Sui Dynasty reunited ancient China ~581AD , Northern China was in a warring states for ~380 years during and after the end of Han dynasty ~220AD. To avoid wars and hardships, mass migration of Han Chinese started moving South. As a result, the population in Southern China (or Lingnan ) rose dramatically. The Han Chinese in the south intermixed with the locals and exemplified further during the latter Tang and Sung dynasties; their language/ culture, predominantly of ancient Han's with some local variations were quite well preserved and not so much influenced by the Mongolians/Manchurians rulers as compared to their counterparts in the North.

Tang

Yue pronunciation and vocabulary are quite similar to the official language of the Tang dynasty. Dialectologists believe that migrants and exiled officials from the heart of the Tang brought their dialect to Guangdong. Remoteness and inefficient transport to Guangdong created an environment in which the language remained largely intact after it arrived.

Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing

In the Song Dynasty, the differences between central Chinese and Yue became more significant, and the languages became more independent of one another. This trend continued during the Yuan and Ming dynasties.

Mid to late Qing

In the late Qing, the dynasty had gone through a period of maritime ban under the Hai jin. Guangzhou remained one of the few cities that allowed trading with foreign countries, since the trade chamber of commerce was established there. Therefore, some foreigners learned Cantonese and some Imperial government officials spoke the Cantonese dialect of Yue, making the language very popular in Cantonese-speaking Guangzhou. Also, European control of Macau and Hong Kong had increased the exposure of Cantonese to the world.

20th century

In 1912, shortly after the fall of the Qing dynasty, revolutionary leaders including Sun Yat-sen met to choose a new national language to replace Classical Chinese. Mandarin Putonghua was then a northern dialect spoken by the Manchurian officials. Many perceived it as an 'impure form' of Chinese. Cantonese is said to have lost out by a small margin of the vote to Putonghua, though some historians dispute this.

The popularity of Cantonese-language media, Cantopop and the Hong Kong film industry, has since led to substantial exposure of Cantonese to China and the rest of Asia. On the Mainland, the national policy is to promote Putonghua. While the government does not prevent people from promoting local Cantonese language and culture, it does not support them. Occasionally there are news reports of children being punished for speaking Cantonese in schools.

Dialects

The Yue language includes several dialects. In the classification of J.M. Campbell, they are:

Cantonese proper, ''Guangfu'' () or ''Yuehai'' (), which includes the language of Guangzhou and the surrounding areas of Zhongshan, Wuzhou, and Foshan, as well as Hong Kong and Macau; ''Sìyì'' ( ''Seiyap),'' exemplified by the Taishan dialect (), also known as Taishanese, which was ubiquitous in American Chinatowns before ''ca'' 1970; ''Gao–Yang'' (), spoken in Yangjiang; ''Wu–Hua'' ( ''Ngfaa),'' spoken mainly in western Guangdong; ''Gou–Lou'' ( ''Ngaulau),'' spoken in western Guangdong and eastern Guangxi, which includes the dialect of Yulin, Guangxi; ''Yong–Xun'' ( ''Jungcam),'' spoken mainly in Guangxi and its capital Nanning; ''Qin–Lian'' ( ''Jamlim),'' spoken in southern Guangxi, which includes the Beihai dialect; ''Danzhou'' (), which includes the dialect of Changjiang ''Haihua'' (), the dialect of Lianjiang

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The Yue dialects spoken in Guangxi Province are mutually intelligible with the Canton dialect. For instance, Wuzhou is about 120 miles upstream from Guangzhou, but its dialect is more like Cantonese spoken in Guangzhou, than is that of Taishan which is 60 miles southwest of Guangzhou and separated by several rivers from it. Formerly ''Pinghua'' (), which is not mutually intelligible with the Canton dialect spoken in central Guangxi, was classified as Yue in China, but it was designated a separate primary branch of Chinese by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in the 1980s, a classification generally followed in the west.

The Canton/Guangzhou dialect of ''Yuehai'' is the prestige dialect and social standard of Yue, and historically the word "Cantonese" has referred specifically to this dialect.

Mandarin is the medium of instruction in the state education system in Mainland China but in Chinese schools in Hong Kong and Macau, Cantonese is the oral language of instruction. It is used extensively in Cantonese-speaking households, Cantonese-language media (Hong Kong films, television serials, and Cantopop), isolation from the other regions of China, local identity, and the non-Mandarin speaking Cantonese diaspora in Hong Kong and abroad give the language a unique identity. Most wuxia films from Canton are filmed originally in Yue and then dubbed or subtitled in Mandarin, English, or both.

Cantonese dialect

The Cantonese dialect is the prestige dialect of Guangdong province, and along with English an official language of Hong Kong. It is the most widely spoken dialect of Yue, spoken in Canton (Guangzhou), Hong Kong, and Macau, and is the ''lingua franca'' of not only Guangdong province, but of overseas Cantonese emigrants, though in many areas abroad it is numerically second to the Taishanese dialect of Yue.

Phonology

See Cantonese phonology for the sounds of the Guangzhou–Hong Kong dialect, and Taishanese for the phonology of that dialect.

Yue development and usage

Usage

By law, Mandarin Chinese ''(Putonghua'' 普通话 or ''guoyu'' 国语) is the standard language of mainland China and Taiwan and is taught nearly universally as a supplement to local languages such as Cantonese in Guangdong. Yue is the ''de facto'' official language of Hong Kong (along with English) and Macau (along with Portuguese), though legally the official language is just "Chinese". Yue is also one of the main languages in many overseas Chinese communities including Australia, Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe. Many of these emigrants or their ancestors originated from Guangdong. In addition, these immigrant communities formed before the widespread use of Mandarin, or they are from Hong Kong where Mandarin is not commonly used. The prestige dialect of Yue is the Guangzhou dialect. In Hong Kong, colloquial Cantonese often incorporates English words due to historical British influences.

Development

Yue is in some respects a more conservative language than Mandarin. For example, Yue has retained ancestral consonant endings that have been lost in Mandarin. Putonghua has 23 syllable rimes, while Cantonese has 59, leading Putonghua to rely heavily on compounding and context for meaning. For example, because of the larger number of syllable finals, the Cantonese Yue transcription of David Beckham's family name uses two characters (碧咸 bik1haam4), while Putonghua's uses four (貝克漢姆 bèikèhànmǔ). On the other hand, Yue has lost distinctions in the initial and medial consonants which Mandarin has retained, and Wu Chinese has preserved the three series of stop consonant initials from Middle Chinese that both Mandarin and Yue have reduced to two.

Variations

The Taishan dialect, which in the U.S. nowadays is heard mostly spoken by Chinese actors in old American TV shows and movies (e.g. Hop Sing on Bonanza), is more conservative than Cantonese. It has preserved the initial /n/ sound of words, whereas many post-World War II-born Hong Kong Cantonese speakers have changed this to an /l/ sound ("ngàuh lām" instead of "ngàuh nām" for "beef brisket" ) and more recently drop the "ng-" initial (so that it changes further to "àuh lām"); this seems to have arisen from some kind of street affectation as opposed to systematic phonological change. The common word for "who" in Taishan is "sŭe" (), which is the same character used in Mandarin, whereas Cantonese uses the classical word "bīn go" (), meaning ''which one.''

Sound

Yue sounds quite different from Mandarin, mainly because it has a different set of syllables. The rules for syllable formation are different; for example, there are syllables ending in non-nasal consonants (e.g. "lak"). It also has different tones and more of them than Mandarin. Canton dialect is generally considered to have 6 romanization tones, as reflected in most romanization schemes such as Jyutping, Yale, Cantonese Pinyin. According to other analyses, the number of tones may also be 7 or 8. The choice mainly depends on whether a traditional distinction between a high-level and a high-falling tone is observed; the two tones in question have largely merged into a single, high-level tone, especially in Hong Kong Cantonese, which has tended to simplify traditional Chinese tones. Many (especially older) descriptions of the Cantonese sound system record a higher number of tones, 9. However, the extra tones differ only in that they end in p, t, or k; otherwise they can be modeled identically.

Yue preserves many syllable-final sounds that Mandarin has lost or merged. For example, the characters 裔, 屹, 藝, 憶, 譯, 懿, 誼, 肄, 翳, 邑, and 佚 are all pronounced "yì" in Mandarin, but they are all different in Yue (Cantonese jeoih, ngaht, ngaih/ngaaih, yìk, yihk, yi, yìh, yih, ai, yap, and yaht, respectively). Like Hakka and Min Nan, Yue has preserved the final consonants [-m, -n, -ŋ -p, -t, -k] from Middle Chinese, while the Mandarin final consonants have been reduced to [-n, -ŋ]. The final consonants of Yue match those of Middle Chinese with very few exceptions. For example, lacking the syllable-final sound "m"; the final "m" and final "n" from older varieties of Chinese have merged into "n" in Mandarin, e.g. Cantonese "taahm" (譚) and "tàahn" (壇) versus Mandarin tán; "yìhm" (鹽) and "yìhn" (言) versus Mandarin yán; "tìm" (添) and "tìn" (天) versus Mandarin tiān; "hàhm" (含) and "hòhn" (寒) versus Mandarin hán. The examples are too numerous to list. Nasals can be independent syllables in Yue words, e.g. Cantonese "ńgh" (五) "five", and "m̀h" (唔) "not", even though such type of syllables did not exist in Middle Chinese.

Differences also arise from Mandarin's relatively recent sound changes. One change, for example, palatalized with to , and is reflected in historical Mandarin romanizations, such as ''Peking'' (Beijing), ''Kiangsi'' (Jiangxi), and Fukien (Fujian). This distinction is still preserved in Yue. For example, 晶, 精, 經 and 京 are all pronounced as "jīng" in Mandarin, but in Yue, the first pair is pronounced "jīng", and the second pair "gīng".

A more drastic example, displaying both the loss of coda plosives and the palatization of onset consonants, is the character (學), pronounced '''' in Middle Chinese. Its modern pronunciations in Yue, Hakka, Hokkien, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese are "hohk", "hók" (pinjim), "" (Pe̍h-ōe-jī), học (although a Sino-Vietnamese word, it is used in daily vocabulary), 학 ''hak'' (Sino-Korean), and ''gaku'' (Sino-Japanese), respectively, while the pronunciation in Mandarin is ''xué'' .

However, the Mandarin vowel system is somewhat more conservative than that of Yue, or at least the Cantonese dialect of Yue, in that many diphthongs preserved in Mandarin have merged or been lost in Yue. Also, Mandarin makes a three-way distinction among alveolar, alveolo-palatal, and retroflex fricative consonants, distinctions that are not made by modern Cantonese. For example, ''jiang'' (將) and ''zhang'' (張) are two distinct syllables in Mandarin or old Yue, but in modern Cantonese Yue they have the same sound, "jeung1". The loss of distinction between the alveolar and the alveolopalatal sibilants in Cantonese occurred in the mid-19th centuries and was documented in many Cantonese dictionaries and pronunciation guides published prior to the 1950s. ''A Tonic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Canton Dialect'' by Williams (1856), writes: “The initials "ch" and "ts" are constantly confounded, and some persons are absolutely unable to detect the difference, more frequently calling the words under "ts" as "ch", than contrariwise.” ''A Pocket Dictionary of Cantonese'' by Cowles (1914) adds: “''s'' initial may be heard for ''sh'' initial and vice versa.”

There are clear sound correspondences in the tones. For example, a fourth-tone (low falling tone) word in Yue is usually second tone (rising tone) in Mandarin. This can be partly explained by their common descent from Middle Chinese (spoken), still with its different dialects. One way of counting tones gives Cantonese nine tones, Mandarin four, and Late Middle Chinese eight. Within this system, Mandarin merged the so-called "yin" and "yang" tones except for the Ping (平, flat) category, while Yue not only preserved these, but split one of them into two over time. Also, within this system, Yue and Wu are the only Chinese languages known to have split a tone, rather than merge two or more of them, since the time of Late Middle Chinese.

See also

Sidney Lau romanisation

Hong Kong Government Cantonese Romanisation

Cantonese Pinyin

Jyutping (LSHK)

Yale Romanization

Written Cantonese

Cantonese grammar

Written Chinese

Chinese input methods for computers

Notes

References

External links

Free Intermediate and Advanced Learning MP3

cantoneseAID

Learn Cantonese (with Cantonese–English / English–Cantonese Dictionary)

Classification of Cantonese Dialects

Profile and Linguistic Map of Cantonese

Category:Tonal languages Category:Cantonese language Category:Chinese languages in Singapore Category:Languages of Hong Kong Category:Languages of Malaysia Category:Languages of the Philippines Category:Languages of Macau Category:Languages of the United States Category:Languages of Canada Category:Languages of Australia Category:Languages of New Zealand Category:SVO languages

am:ጓንግዶንግኛ ar:صينية يؤ bn:ক্যান্টনীয় উপভাষা zh-min-nan:Kńg-tang-oē bcl:Kantones br:Kantoneg bg:Кантонски език cs:Kantonština de:Kantonesische Sprache es:Chino cantonés eo:Kantona lingvo fa:زبان کانتونی hif:Yue Chinese fr:Cantonais gv:Yueish gl:Lingua cantonesa gan:粵語 hak:Kóng-tûng-fa ko:광둥어 hi:कैण्टोनी भाषा id:Kantonis (linguistik) is:Kantónska it:Lingua cantonese kw:Cantonek mg:Fiteny kantoney ms:Bahasa Kantonis nl:Kantonees ja:広東語 no:Kantonesisk nds:Kantoneesch pl:Język yue pt:Cantonês ro:Limba cantoneză ru:Юэ (язык) simple:Cantonese fi:Kantoninkiina sv:Kantonesiska ta:காந்தோநீசிய மொழி th:ภาษาจีนกวางตุ้ง tr:Kantonca uk:Кантонська мова ug:كانتونچە vi:Tiếng Quảng Đông zh-classical:粵語 wuu:粤语 zh-yue:粵語 zh:粤语

name	Leehom Wang
chinesename	王力宏
pinyinchinesename	Wáng Lìhóng
jyutpingchinesename	Wong4 Lik6 Wang4
birth name	Alexander Leehom Wang
ancestry	Yiwu, Zhejiang, China
origin	Republic of China (Taiwan)
birth date	May 17, 1976
birth place	Rochester, New York, USA
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, film director, actor, record producer, music arranger, composer
genre	Pop, R&B;, rap, hip hop, rock, jazz, Broadway
instrument	Violin, piano, drums, guitar, bass/electric guitar, erhu, vibraphone, harmonica, chinese flutes, guzheng, zhongruan, etc.
voicetype	Tenor
label	Sony MusicDecca (1996–1997)BMG (1995–1996)
yearsactive	1995–present
influences	Stevie Wonder, Prince, Alicia Keys, Outkast, Missy Elliott, R. Kelly, The Neptunes
website	www.wangleehom.com
mtvasiaawards	Favorite Artist, Taiwan2006
goldenmelodyawards	Best Mandarin Male Singer1999 ''Revolution''2006 ''Heroes of Earth''Best Album Producer1999 ''Revolution''2004 ''Unbelievable''
awards	}}

Leehom Wang (born May 17, 1976) is an American-born singer-songwriter, record producer, actor and film director of Chinese descent based in Taiwan. Formally trained at the Eastman School of Music, Williams College and Berklee College of Music, his musical style is known for fusing Chinese elements (such as Beijing opera, traditional styles of ethnic minorities, Chinese classical orchestra) with hip-hop and R&B.; Wang has been active since 1995 and contributed in 25 albums. He is also a four-time winner of Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards, the "Grammys" of Taiwanese music.

In addition to his music, Wang also acted in several films, including Ang Lee's ''Lust, Caution'' and Jackie Chan's film ''Little Big Soldier''. He is an environmental activist, and his album ''Change Me'' was dedicated to raising eco-awareness among Chinese youth. Wang was one of the first torchbearers for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, and performed in the Olympics' closing ceremony in Beijing. He was listed as one of Goldsea's "The 100 Most Inspiring Asian Americans of All Time".

Life and music career

Childhood and early beginnings

Born in Rochester, New York, Wang is the second of three sons of immigrants from Taiwan of waishengren heritage. His father, a pediatrician, and his mother moved to the United States to further their college studies in the early 1960s. Influenced by his older brother, Leo Wang, who had been taking violin lessons since he was seven, Wang began to develop a curious interest towards the violin and its musical counterparts when he was three. He begged his mother to put him in violin lessons with his brother but his mother was against it, reasoning that he was too young. When Wang turned six, his mother enrolled him in violin classes, performing along with his brother. As he became a teenager, he began taking piano lessons, also teaching himself the guitar. He also worked several jobs to earn money to buy a second hand drum kit.

He attended Jefferson Road Elementary School, Pittsford Middle School, and Pittsford Sutherland High School in Pittsford, New York. He graduated from Pittsford Sutherland. Passionate for a career in music, he chose to attend Williams College double majoring in music and Asian studies. He joined an all-male a cappella group, The Springstreeters, and the group recorded several demo tracks.

In the summer of 1995, while Wang was visiting his grandparents in Taiwan, he was offered a professional recording contract by Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) after he participated in a talent competition hosted by the label. Not wanting to lose the opportunity, he immediately began preparing for his debut, and released his debut album ''Love Rival, Beethoven'' that December. The record received little limelight, forcing him to leave the label. He signed with Decca Records the following year, a label then famous for producing "powerful singers" (實力派歌手) in Taiwan. Wanting to also have control in the idol market, the label initially planned to market Wang as the mainstream "romantic idol", like with their previous artist Mavis Fan. However, after discovering Wang's talent in music-making, Decca began promoting him as Taiwan's "quality idol" (優質偶像) instead. Wang released his second album ''If You Heard My Song'' in 1996, which included some of his own compositions. He co-wrote the album's eponymous title song, which earned positive responses from the audience. The album drew moderately successful sales, and he became a rising star in the idol market, also finding similar successes with his third and fourth albums. During this time, Wang was asked to leave his college studies to pursue a full time singing career, but he insisted on finishing school first.

Rise to prominence (1998–2000)

Wang's contract with Decca records was terminated after the release of his fourth album ''White Paper'' in the summer of 1997. After graduating with honors at Williams College, He released his first award-winning album ''Revolution'' under Sony Music Entertainment in August 1998. The album became his breakthrough album, immediately selling over 10,000 domestic units in the first week of release. Critics rated the album highly, and it won Wang two Golden Melody Awards—Best Producer and Best Mandarin Male Singer. He was the youngest artist to win in either of the two categories. Wang has been nominated the Best Mandarin Male Singer at the awards every year since the success of ''Revolution''. The singles of ''Revolution'' also achieved similar success–"Revolution" became Wang Leehom's first #1 single, becoming one of the top 20 songs of the year on Channel V Taiwan.

He continued his studies by attending Berklee College of Music's Professional Music program, with voice as his principal instrument. In 1999, Wang released his sixth album ''Impossible to Miss You'', which combined the catchy pop melodies of ''Revolution'' with a quirky style of new-found dance pop. It became his then best-selling album, selling over 1 million copies. All of the album's promotional singles topped KTV charts and yearly music charts, notably the upbeat "Julia" and the ballad "Crying Palm".His album also attracted international attention–Wang won three Best Male Vocalist awards at three different award ceremonies and was also awarded for his musical merit in the album at the 1st annual Asia Chinese Music Awards.

At the beginning of the millennium, Wang began filming for several Cantonese-language Hong Kong blockbusters, which inspired him to study the Cantonese language. He included a Cantonese track, "Love My Song," in the Hong Kong release of ''Forever's First Day'' (2000), his seventh album. Unlike his previous two albums, ''Forever's First Day'' consisted mainly of melodic R&B; tunes. The album's eponymous single is a tragic romantic ballad, speaking of a separation of two individuals. Although raised in New York for most of his life, living in Taiwan made Wang realize the deep roots of his Chinese heritage. ''Forever's First Day'' yielded a cover of his uncle's signature song "Descendants of the Dragon"; Wang re-arranged the song with heavier rock and dance elements. The song also included a rap bridge that summarized experiences of his parents living as a Chinese American in New York.

International success (2001–03)

Wang's next album, ''The One and Only'' (2001) received phenomenal international success. Selling over 1 million units in Asia, the rock-inspired album won him over seven different prestigious awards throughout 2001 and 2002. The album's title single "The One and Only" peaked #1 in almost all available music charts of Taiwan and was on the Ringback Tone #1 Download Charts for over a year, becoming his signature song. ''The One and Only'' also found success in Japan, opting him to release his first full-length Japanese album ''The Only One'' on May 9, 2003. The album only promoted one single, a Japanese version of "The One and Only", but it did not meet success on Japan's Oricon Charts. Wang also began filming several Japanese films, establishing his rising star status in Japan.

Eager to experience and perform different musical genres, Wang embarked on his first Asia-wide concert tour ''The Unbelievable Tour'' a few months before the release of his ninth album ''Unbelievable'' (2003). His concert tour received great reviews from both fans and music critics; they were impressed and shocked with his new-found hip hop image. His R&B;/hip hop-inspired album ''Unbelievable'' involved new urban pop numbers, drawing hip hop influences from different styles of popular music, such as Indipop and urban pop. The album marked a milestone in his musical career; his new image received international critical acclaim and the album a chart-topping success, selling over 1.5 million units by 2004. A celebratory version of the album was released three months later, also becoming a chart-topping album. The album's singles, notably the ballad number "You're Not Here" also experienced international success, ranking #1 on several music charts for over 10 weeks. ''Unbelievable'' yielded his second win for Best Producer of the Year at the Golden Melody Awards in 2004.

Chinked-out (2004–06)

Having established himself as one of the most important, influential, and prolific artists in Chinese music, Wang continued to invent and experiment with new sounds and voices. For most of 2004, he traveled to remote villages in China, collecting often unheard tribal sounds of aboriginal Chinese music, Tibetan music, and Mongolian music. With his younger brother Leekai as his assistant, they carried 15 kg of music equipment as he recorded these sounds, recording and producing his album on the way. He incorporated these sounds into R&B; and hip hop music, coining the style as "chinked-out." Despite the derogatory nature of the term "chink," Wang had wanted to repossess the term and "make it cool." ''Shangri-La'' was released on the last day of 2004, selling an 40,000 copies within the first ten days of release. ''Shangri-La'' became an international music sensation, especially catching the attention of many youths in Asia. Within a month, the album sold over 300,000 copies, ultimately selling over 1.5 million units.

Wang continued to infuse chinked-out elements into his next album ''Heroes of Earth'' (2005). Unlike the aboriginal tribal music heard in ''Shangri-La'', ''Heroes of Earth'' contained mixes of Beijing opera and Kunqu. Following the concept of "heroes," he collaborated with Ashin of Mayday ("Beside the Plum Blossoms"), Chinese American rapper Jin and opera master Li Yan ("Heroes of Earth"), and also K-pop artists Rain and Lim Jeong-hee ("Perfect Interaction"). ''Heroes of Earth'' was the fastest-selling album of both 2005 and 2006, selling over 1 million copies ten days after its release. Subsequently, the album stayed as #1 in the charts for six weeks, and remained in the charts for 23 weeks, ultimately becoming 2006's third best-selling album. By 2007, about 3 million units were sold, and has since been Wang's most commercially and critically successful album. The album earned Wang a Golden Melody Award for Best Mandarin Male Singer for the second time.

Three months after the release of ''Heroes of Earth'', he began the ''Heroes of Earth Tour'', his first major world tour. The concert commenced with two shows per night in the Taipei Dome in March 2006, breaking Taiwan's concert attendance records.

Professional breakthrough (2007–present)

Wang took a break in working on his music to film ''Lust, Caution'' (2007), an espionage thriller film directed by Ang Lee. He released a promotional single "Falling Leaves Return to Roots" on June 20, 2007 through Hito Radio, a month before the release of his twelfth studio album, ''Change Me''. "Falling Leaves Return to Roots" incorporated Broadway-influenced musical elements, with classical instrumental accompaniments, such as the violin and piano. When asked about the sudden change of music style, Wang explained that the inspiration behind the song was due to the influence of his portrayal of Kuang Yumin in ''Lust, Caution''. "In the past, I have only been releasing mainstream pop and chinked-out related hip hop. ''Lust, Caution'' made me return to 1930's Shanghai, re-living the moment."

''Change Me'' was released on Friday, July 13, despite the superstition generally attached to Friday the 13th. Unlike his previous albums, ''Change Me'' mainly concentrates on pop rock, including influences of Broadway ("Falling Leaves Return to Roots") and old-school Taiwanese pop ("You Are a Song in My Heart"). Through this album, he promoted the issue of global warming and raised environmental awareness. The packaging of the album used only recycled paper and contained no plastic. He believed that small changes by each person can change the world. "To change the world, you start with changing yourself." Reviews of the album were generally positive, defining the album as "mature." An online album poll organized by China's Sohu, however, suggested that Wang's album did not meet expectations. Netizens remarked that his chinked-out productions were more impressive, although that genre itself has also been criticized. Nonetheless, over 1 million units were shipped on the first day of release. The album broke past 2 million sales, becoming one of Wang's best-selling albums.

In August 2008, Wang sought US$320,000 in damages for plagiarism by Pritam, an Indian composer. The lead song for the movie ''Race'' (2008), composed by Pritam, was allegedly copied from "In the Depths of the Bamboo Forest," a single taken off from Wang Leehom's ''Shangri-La'' album. In November 2008, Wang was selected to conduct the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra for their 2008 annual grand finale, being the first Asian pop musician to conduct the orchestra. The concert ''Hong Kong Music, Leehom Wang'' (港樂‧王力宏) was held in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre for three nights, with four shows, receiving CNN International coverage throughout.

Wang embarked on his second world tour, the ''Music-Man Tour'', in the latter months of 2008. The tour commenced with two shows per night in the Taipei Dome in September 2008, three months before the release of Wang's thirteenth studio album, ''Heart Beat''. ''Heart Beat'' was released on December 26, debuting at #3 on the weekly G-Music charts. The album peaked at #1 on its seventh week of release, ultimately staying on the charts for 17 weeks. Like Wang's previous album, ''Heart Beat'' showed a similar emphasis of rock influences. The album largely focused on guitar and electric guitar solos, which Wang also used for performances in most of the album's music videos. Wanting to continue a similar "chinked-out" element, the album's first single, "What's Up with Rock?!" incorporated rock influences with Chinese flavor. For the track, he worked with pipa artist Liu Fang, and the two concentrated on mixing both electric guitar elements and pipa strings into the song.

On April 15, 2011, Wang Lee Hom took home the Best Male Singer (Hong Kong and Taiwan region), Best Album for ''The 18 Martial Arts'', and Best Newcomer Director Award for his directorial debut, Love in Disguise at the Global Chinese Music Awards.

Musical style

Wang's music ranges greatly from album to album. Although he is classified as an R&B; artist, Wang Leehom demonstrates competence with many styles of music ranging from traditional Mandopop, Broadway, jazz, rock, R&B;, gospel, acoustic, Indipop, hip-hop, to rap. Many of the styles are infused with a Chinese flavor.

When he first debuted, he sang old school pop and acoustic R&B; ballads. Starting from ''Revolution'' (公轉自轉), Wang began to test out R&B; pop music, but quickly jumped to a quirky style of dance pop for ''Impossible to Miss You'' (不可能錯過你). Starting from ''Forever's First Day'' (永遠的第一天), he began composing rock songs with heavy electric guitar melodies and less emphasis on dance pop. Nonetheless, he still concentrated in light R&B; music. ''The One and Only'' (唯一) became his only fully produced rock album.

''Unbelievable'' began a new road of music for Wang. Aside from the usual R&B; grove, he contributed hip hop and rap that was not clearly emphasized in his past albums. "Not Your Average Thug" was a newly composed R&B; style with a huge amount of American influence. "Can You Feel My World" was a different style of R&B;, and the song contained great uses of the piano and violin as the accompaniment. Fast dance songs like "Ya Birthday" and "Girlfriend" () incorporated rapid rap and heavy drum rhythms. "Girlfriend" included a heavily emphasised chinese flute and a music style that is influenced by Indipop.

''Shangri-La'' was the first chapter of Wang's new style, chinked-out. Chinked-out is a new kind of musical style developed by Wang that involves modern "west" music of R&B;, Hip Hop, rap, and Dance, along with "east" music of heavy Chinese instrument influences, more notably the koudi, tuhu, and ijac. "Deep Within the Bamboo Grove" () which emphasized samples of Tibetan Opera, and different minority tribes in Yunnan and other remote areas of China.

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''Heroes of Earth'' displayed a different side to chinked out. Instead of ethnic minority music, Wang focused on Beijing opera and Kunqu. He used instruments such as the erhu, guqin, and guzheng to infuse his new album with another side of traditional Chinese sound. "Beside the Plum Blossoms" () dealt with fast kunqu melodies. In the last 50 seconds of the song, Wang rapped over 250 words, increasing in speed towards the middle and then slowed down. This was to emphasize the accelerating and descending beats of traditional Chinese opera.

In addition to his chinked-out style of music, he is also noted for writing modern love ballads like "Forever Love", "Kiss Goodbye", "The One and Only" and most recently, "All the Things You Never Knew" (你不知道的事） which are sung with piano and string instrument accompaniments.

Acting career

Wang had displayed interest in acting when he starred in several musical plays when he was in high school and college. In 2000, he made his feature film debut in the Hong Kong action crime thriller, ''China Strike Force'', starring alongside Aaron Kwok, Norika Fujiwara, and Ruby Lin. Hong Kong critics had remarked Wang for giving a well-toned performance as his first film. His next starring role was the 2001 Hong Kong science fiction film ''The Avenging Fist'' as the main character Nova. He then starred in two Japanese films ''Moon Child'' (2003) and ''Starlit High Noon'' (2005).

The major breakthrough in his film career was in ''Lust, Caution'', directed and produced by Academy Award winner Ang Lee. The film is based on a novella written by Eileen Chang and revolves around a plot to assassinate a high-ranking Chinese official in the Wang Jingwei Government using a beautiful young woman as bait. Wang plays Kuang Yumin, a patriotic college student who persuades Wong Chia-chi (Tang Wei) to seduce Mr. Yee (Tony Leung). The film was released in the U.S. cinemas on 28 September 2007. ''Lust, Caution'' was produced on a budget of approximately $15 million and grossed $64,574,876 worldwide.

In 2009, Wang was selected to star with Jackie Chan in ''Little Big Soldier''.

In 2010, Wang stepped behind the camera to direct and star in, ''Love in Disguise'' (), also starring Liu Yifei and Joan Chen. ''Love in Disguise'' went on to become the highest grossing film for a first-time director in Chinese history grossing over 60,000,000 RMB domestically.

Endorsements

Wang is one of the most highly visible celebrities in Asia due in no small part to his many product endorsements including: Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Sony Ericsson, Bausch & Lomb, Bosideng MAN, Garnier, Lay's Chips, Nikon, Brand's, Hyundai and also Wahaha purified drinking water, which he has endorsed since 1999.

Wang's Bausch & Lomb print advertisements and TV commercials featured prominently in the popular 2008-2010 TV series ''Chou Nu Wu Di''. The series, which took place at an advertising agency, was an adaptation of the 1999 Colombian telenovela ''Yo soy Betty, la fea''.

Charitable events

Wang is also recognized for his effort and financial contributions to charity. He is active with Worldvision and has visited Laos and Sierra Leone in the last couple of years to raise awareness about the state of poverty in those countries. He personally sponsors over 20 underprivileged children throughout the world with NGO World Vision and frequently participates in the much needed fund-raising campaigns for disaster relief such as the massive earthquake at Sichuan (2008) and Typhoon Marakot in Taiwan (2009). In 2003, he and David Tao composed a song titled Hand in Hand (sung by over 80 celebrities in Taiwan) to promote support and courage to those affected by SARS.

Participation in 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Wang was chosen as one of the torchbearers to run in Greece. He was torchbearer number 17 on March 24, the first day of the torch relay. He also attended the torch lighting ceremony before his run. Wang took the torch from Liu Hongliang, son of the first Chinese to attend the Olympic games, Liu Changchun. He represented the newest generation of singers from Taiwan and China. He was chosen mainly because he is devoted to helping save the environment, as shown in his latest album ''Change Me''.

Another reason he was chosen is due to Wang's enthusiasm in the 2008 Olympic Games Theme Songs Competition. His single One World One Dream was chosen as a Olympic Games participation song. The single was written, sung, produced, and scored entirely by himself. He sang along with Jackie Chan, Stephanie Sun, and Han Hong in the song for "The One Man Olympics" which was about the first Chinese to be in the Olympics. He also sang in the 100 days countdown theme song Beijing Welcomes You. He also sang alongside Stefanie Sun, Wang Feng, and Jane Zhang in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Torch Relay Theme Song, Light The Passion, Share The Dream. He is also one of the candidates on vote for performer of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Theme Song. In the closing ceremony, he sang "Beijing Beijing, I Love Beijing" alongside Hong Kong singer Kelly Chen and Korean singer Rain.

Discography

Filmography

+ Film and television
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
1999	''''	Dean McCoppin
2000	''China Strike Force''	Alex Cheung
2000	''Ashes to Ashes: Against Smoking''	Dave
2001	''''	Nova
2003		Son
2005	''Starlit High Noon''	Lian Song
2007		Kuang Yumin
2010	''Little Big Soldier''	Big General
2010	''Love In Disguise''	Du Minghan	also director
2011	''''	Luo Jialun

Awards

Bibliography

December 18, 2001: ''The One and Only - The Official Piano and Vocal Score'' (唯一樂譜書) (Piano and Vocal Score)

March 20, 2003: ''Accidental Biography'' (純屬意外) (Biography; Piano and Vocal Score)

October 15, 2003: ''Portrait of a Love Song'' (Photobook; Prose and Biography) [Japan Release]

November 15, 2005: ''Shangri-La - The Official Piano and Vocal Score'' (心中的日月樂譜書) (Piano and Vocal Score)

June 9, 2006: "Heroes Of TOKYO" (Photobook) [Japan Release]

July 21, 2010: "Love In Disguise: photo collection" (Photobook)

July 21, 2010: "Wang Leehom, the practice of first-time director"

References

Further reading

External links

Leehom Wang official website

Sony Music: Taiwan Japan

Category:1976 births Category:American people of Chinese descent Category:American people of Taiwanese descent Category:Berklee College of Music alumni Category:English-language singers Category:Japanese-language singers Category:Living people Category:Musicians from New York Category:People from Rochester, New York Category:Taiwanese film actors Category:American musicians of Chinese descent Category:American musicians of Taiwanese descent Category:Taiwanese Mandopop singer-songwriters Category:Taiwanese male singers Category:Williams College alumni

bg:Уан Лийхом ca:Lee-Hom Wang de:Lee-Hom Wang es:Lee-Hom Wang fr:Wang Lee-hom ko:왕력굉 it:Leehom Wang jv:Wang Lee Hom kk:Уаң Ли Хоң hu:Wang Lee-hom nl:Wang Lee-Hom ja:ワン・リーホン th:หวัง ลี่หง vi:Vương Lực Hoành wuu:王力宏 zh:王力宏

Name	Zhuge Liang
Title	Chancellor
Kingdom	Shu Han
Birth date	181
Birth place	Yangdu, Langya Commandery (present-day Yinan County, Shandong)
Death date	234 (aged 53)
Death place	Wuzhang Plains, Shaanxi
Simp	诸葛亮
Trad	諸葛亮
Pinyin	Zhūgě Liàng
Wg	Chu-ko Liang
Zi	Kongming (孔明)
Post	Marquis of Zhongwu (忠武侯)
Other	Wolong (臥龍) Crouching Dragon Fulong (伏龍) Sleeping Dragon }}

Zhuge Liang (181–234) was a chancellor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He is often recognised as the greatest and most accomplished strategist of his era.

Often depicted wearing a robe and holding a hand fan made of crane feathers, Zhuge Liang was not only an important military strategist and statesman; he was also an accomplished scholar and inventor. His reputation as an intelligent and learned scholar grew even while he was living in relative seclusion, earning him the nickname "Wolong" (臥龍; literally: "Crouching Dragon").

Zhuge is an uncommon two-character compound family name. His name – even his surname alone – has become synonymous with intelligence and strategy in Chinese culture.

Early life

Zhuge Liang was born in Yangdu, Langya Commandery (present-day Yinan County, Shandong). He was orphaned at a premature age, and was raised by his uncle, Zhuge Xuan. He followed his uncle to live in Jing Province under Liu Biao later. After his uncle died, Zhuge Liang and his brothers settled in Wolonggang (in present-day Henan) for the next ten years or so, leading simple lives – farming by day and studying at night. Zhuge Liang's two older sisters married members of influential clans with strong connections in the region.

Zhuge Liang enjoyed reciting ''Liangfu Yin'' (梁父吟), a folk song popular in Shandong, his birthplace. He also liked to compare himself to Guan Zhong and Yue Yi, two famous historical figures. He developed close friendships with members of the local literati, such as Xu Shu, Cui Zhouping, Meng Jian and Shi Tao. Zhuge Liang also maintained close relations with other well known intellectuals, such as Sima Hui, Pang Degong and Huang Chengyan. Huang Chengyan once told Zhuge Liang, "I heard that you're seeking a spouse. I've an ugly daughter with a yellow face and dark complexion, but her talent matches yours." Zhuge Liang agreed and married Huang Chengyan's daughter.

Service under Liu Bei

At that time, Liu Bei resided at Xinye while he was taking shelter under Jing Province's governor, Liu Biao. Liu Bei visited Sima Hui, who told him, "Confucian academics and common scholars, how much do they know about current affairs? Those who analyze current affairs well are elites. Crouching Dragon and Young Phoenix are the only ones in this region." Xu Shu later recommended Zhuge Liang to Liu Bei again, and Liu wanted to ask Xu to invite Zhuge to meet him. However, Xu Shu replied, "You must visit this man in person. He cannot be invited to meet you." Liu Bei succeeded in recruiting Zhuge Liang in 207 after paying three personal visits. Zhuge Liang presented the Longzhong Plan to Liu Bei and left his residence to follow Liu. Afterwards, Liu Bei became very close to Zhuge Liang and often had discussions with him. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were not pleased and complained. Liu Bei explained, "Now that I've Kongming (Zhuge Liang's style name), it's just like a fish getting into water. I hope you'll stop making unpleasant remarks." Guan Yu and Zhang Fei then stopped complaining.

As a lobbyist

In 208, Liu Biao died and was succeeded by his younger son, Liu Cong, who surrendered Jing Province to Cao Cao. When Liu Bei heard of Liu Cong's surrender, he led his followers (both troops and civilians) on an exodus southward to Xiakou, engaging Cao Cao's forces in a brief skirmish at the Battle of Changban along the way. While in Xiakou, Liu Bei sent Zhuge Liang to follow Lu Su to Jiangdong to discuss the formation of an alliance between him and Sun Quan.

Zhuge Liang met Sun Quan in Chaisang and proposed two solutions to Sun, "If you can use the forces of Wuyue to resist the Middle Kingdom, why not break ties (with Cao Cao) in advance? If you cannot oppose, why not demobilize the troops, discard your armour and surrender to the north?" After Sun Quan's viceroy, Zhou Yu, analyzed the situation and pointed out weaknesses in Cao Cao's army, Sun finally agreed to ally with Liu Bei in resisting Cao. Zhuge Liang returned to Liu Bei's camp with Sun Quan's envoy, Lu Su, to make preparation for the upcoming war.

As a logistics officer

In late 208, the allied armies of Liu Bei and Sun Quan scored a decisive victory over Cao Cao's forces at the Battle of Red Cliffs. Cao Cao retreated to Ye, while Liu Bei proceeded to conquer territories in Jiangnan, covering most of southern Jing Province. Zhuge Liang was appointed "Military Advisor General of the Household" (軍師中郎將). He was put in charge of governing Lingling (present day Yongzhou, Hunan), Guiyang and Changsha commanderies and collecting taxes to fund the military.

In 211, Liu Zhang, governor of Yi Province (covering present-day Sichuan basin), requested aid from Liu Bei in attacking Zhang Lu of Hanzhong. Liu Bei left Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others in charge of Jing Province while he led an army into Sichuan. Liu Bei promptly agreed to Liu Zhang's proposal, but secretly planned to takeover Liu Zhang's land. The following year, Liu Zhang discovered Liu Bei's intention, and the two turned hostile and waged war on each other. Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun led separate forces to reinforce Liu Bei in the attack on Liu Zhang's capital city, Chengdu, while Guan Yu stayed behind to guard Jing Province. In 214, Liu Zhang surrendered and Liu Bei took control of Yi Province.

Liu Bei appointed Zhuge Liang "Military Advisor General" (軍師將軍) and let him administer affairs of his personal office (office of the General of the Left (左將軍)). Whenever Liu Bei embarked on military campaigns, Zhuge Liang remained to defend Chengdu and ensure a steady flow of supply of troops and provisions. In 221, in response to Cao Pi's usurping of Emperor Xian's throne, Liu Bei's subordinates advised him to declare himself emperor. After initially refusing, Liu Bei was eventually persuaded by Zhuge Liang to do so and became ruler of Shu Han. Liu Bei named Zhuge Liang his chancellor and put him in charge of the imperial agency where Zhuge assumed the functions of Imperial Secretariat. Zhuge Liang was appointed "Director of Retainers" (司隸校尉) after Zhang Fei's death.

Service under Liu Shan

In the spring of 222, Liu Bei retreated to Yong'an (present-day Fengjie County, Chongqing) after his defeat at the Battle of Xiaoting and became seriously ill. He summoned Zhuge Liang from Chengdu and said to him, "You're ten times more talented than Cao Pi, capable of both securing the country and accomplishing our great mission. If my son can be assisted, then assist him. If he proves incompetent, then you may take over the throne." Zhuge Liang replied tearfully, "I'll do my utmost and serve with unwavering loyalty until death." Liu Bei then ordered his son, Liu Shan, to administer state affairs together with Zhuge Liang and regard Zhuge as his father.

As a regent

After Liu Bei's death, Liu Shan ascended to the throne of Shu Han. He granted Zhuge Liang the title of "Marquis of Wu" (武鄉侯) and created an office for him. Not long later, Zhuge Liang was appointed governor of Yi Province and put in charge of all state affairs. At the same time, the commanderies in Nanzhong rebelled against Shu, but Zhuge Liang did not send troops to suppress the revolt as Liu Bei's death was still recent. He sent Deng Zhi and Chen Zhen to make peace with Eastern Wu and re-entered an alliance with Wu. Zhuge Liang would consistently send envoys to Wu to improve diplomatic relations between the two states.

Southern Campaign

During his reign as regent, Zhuge Liang set Shu's objective as the restoration of the Han Dynasty, which from Shu's point of view, had been usurped by Cao Wei. He felt that in order to attack Wei, a complete unification of Shu was first needed. Zhuge Liang was worried that the local clans would work with the Nanman tribes in Nanzhong to stage a revolution. Fearing the possibility that the peasants might rebel and press into areas surrounding the capital city of Chengdu while he was attacking Wei in the north, Zhuge Liang decided to pacify the southern tribes first.

In the spring of 225, regional clans including Yong, Gao, Zhu, and Meng had taken control of some cities in the south, so Zhuge Liang led an expedition force to Nanzhong. Ma Su proposed that they should attempt to win the hearts of the Nanman and rally their support instead of using military force to subdue them. Zhuge Liang heeded Ma Su's advice and defeated the rebel leader, Meng Huo, on seven different occasions. He released Meng Huo each time in order to achieve Meng's genuine surrender. Note that the story about Meng Huo and his captures is rejected as a reliable and accurate historical reference by the majority of the academic, including historians like Miao Yue, Tan Liangxiao, and Zhang Hualan.

Realizing he had no chance to win, Meng Huo pledged allegiance to Shu, and was appointed by Zhuge Liang as governor of the region to keep the populace content and secure the southern Shu border. This would ensure that the future Northern Expeditions would proceed without internal disruptions. Rich and abundant resources acquired from Nanzhong were used to fund Shu's military and the state became more prosperous.

Northern Expeditions and death

After pacifying the Nanman, Zhuge Liang ordered the Shu military to make preparations for a large scale offensive on the rival state of Wei. In 227, while in Hanzhong, he wrote a memorial, titled ''Chu Shi Biao'', to Liu Shan, stating his rationale for the campaign and giving advice to the emperor on good governance. From 228 until his death in 234, Zhuge Liang launched a total of five Northern Expeditions against Wei, all except one of which failed. The only permanent gains by Shu were the conquests of Wudu and Yinping prefectures, as well as the relocation of Wei citizens to Shu on occasion. However, Zhuge Liang's army never suffered casualties over 5% of the total forces, and the resources put into military were affordable (assuming Shu's zenith at 200,000 military strength.)

During the first Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang persuaded Jiang Wei, a young Wei military officer, to surrender and defect to his side. Jiang Wei became a prominent general of Shu later and inherited Zhuge Liang's ideals. In late 234, Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi (the Wei commander) reached a stalemate at the Battle of Wuzhang Plains. Zhuge Liang fell seriously ill and eventually died in camp at the age of 54. Before his death, Zhuge Liang recommended Jiang Wan and Fei Yi to succeed him as regent of Shu. He was buried on Mount Dingjun according to his dying wish and posthumously granted the title of "Loyal and Martial Marquis" (忠武侯) by Liu Shan.

Family

The following list contains family members of Zhuge Liang:

Ancestor: Zhuge Feng (諸葛豐), served as Director of Retainers during the reign of Emperor Yuan of Han

Father: Zhuge Gui (諸葛珪), served as Assistant in Mount Tai Commandery during the late Han Dynasty

Uncle: Zhuge Xuan (諸葛玄), served as Administrator of Yuzhang, joined Liu Biao later. Raised Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Jun.

Siblings:

*Zhuge Jin, older brother, served Wu

*Zhuge Jun (諸葛均), younger brother, served Shu

*Older sister, unknown name, married Pang Shanmin (Pang Tong's older cousin)

*Older sister, unknown name, married a member of the Xiangyang Kuai clan (headed by Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue)

Cousins:

*Zhuge Dan, served Wei, participated in the Three Rebellions in Shouchun, killed after his defeat

Spouse: Lady Huang, daughter of Huang Chengyan. Commonly known as Huang Yueying or Huang Shou (黃綬) in folk tales.

Sons:

*Zhuge Zhan, served Shu, killed in action during the Conquest of Shu by Wei

*Zhuge Huai (諸葛懷), lived as a commoner during the Jin Dynasty

Adopted children:

*Zhuge Qiao, son of Zhuge Jin, adopted by Zhuge Liang, served Shu, died at a young age

Grandsons:

*Zhuge Pan (諸葛攀), son of Zhuge Qiao, returned to Eastern Wu to continue the Zhuge family line there after Zhuge Ke's death

*Zhuge Shang, oldest son of Zhuge Zhan, killed in action with his father during the Conquest of Shu by Wei

*Zhuge Jing (諸葛京), second son of Zhuge Zhan, moved to Hedong in 264 with Zhuge Pan's son Zhuge Xian (諸葛顯), served the Jin Dynasty

*Zhuge Zhi (諸葛質), youngest son of Zhuge Zhan

Descendants:

Marie Zhuge Ziqi (諸葛梓岐), Hong Kong based Canadian model, claims to be a 63rd generation descendant of Zhuge Liang

Legacy

Inventions

Zhuge Liang was believed to be the inventor of mantou, the landmine and a mysterious but efficient automatic transportation device (initially used for grain) referred to as the "wooden ox and flowing horse" (木牛流馬), which is sometimes identified with the wheelbarrow.

Although he is often credited with the invention of the repeating crossbow that is named after him and called "Zhuge Crossbow", this type of semi-automatic crossbow is an improved version of a model that first appeared during the Warring States Period (though there is debate whether the original Warring States Period bow was semi-automatic, or rather shot multiple bolts at once). Nevertheless, Zhuge Liang's version could shoot farther and faster.

Zhuge Liang is also credited with constructing the mysterious Stone Sentinel Maze, an array of stone piles that is said to produce supernatural phenomenon, located near Baidicheng.

An early type of hot air balloon used for military signalling, known as the Kongming lantern, is also named after him. It was said to be invented by Zhuge Liang when he was trapped by Sima Yi in Pingyang. Friendly forces nearby saw the message on the lantern paper covering and came to Zhuge Liang's aid. Another belief is that the lantern resembled Zhuge Liang's headdress, so it was named after him.

Literary works

Some books popularly attributed to Zhuge Liang can be found today. For example, the ''Thirty-Six Stratagems'', and ''Mastering the Art of War'' (not to be confused with Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War'') are two of Zhuge Liang's works that are generally available. Supposedly, his mastery of infantry and cavalry formation tactics, based on the Taoist classic ''I Ching'', were unrivalled. His memorial ''Chu Shi Biao'', written prior to the Northern Expeditions, provided a salutary reflection of his unwavering loyalty to the state of Shu. The memorial moved readers to tears.

Zhuge Liang is also the subject of many Chinese literary works. A poem by Du Fu, a prolific Tang Dynasty poet, was written in memory of Zhuge Liang whose legacy of unwavering dedication seems to have been forgotten in Du Fu's generation (judging by the description of Zhuge Liang' unkept temple). Some historians believe that Du Fu had compared himself with Zhuge Liang in the poem. The full text is:

In fiction

The wisdom and achievements of Zhuge Liang were popularized by the historical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', written by Luo Guanzhong during the Ming Dynasty. The novel is based on historical sources, including Chen Shou's ''Records of Three Kingdoms''. Other major influences include Liu Yiqing's ''A New Account of the Tales of the World'', and ''Sanguozhi Pinghua'', a chronological collection of 80 sketches starting with the Oath of the Peach Garden and ending with Zhuge Liang's death.

Some fictitious accounts involving Zhuge Liang from ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' include:

Borrowing of arrows with straw boats

Prior to the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhuge Liang visited Sun Quan's camp to assist Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu was jealous of Zhuge Liang's talent and felt that Zhuge would become a threat to his lord in future. He assigned Zhuge Liang the task of making 100,000 arrows in ten days or face execution for failure in duties under military law. Zhuge Liang promised that he could complete the mission in three days. With help from Lu Su, Zhuge Liang prepared 20 large boats, each manned by a few soldiers and filled with human-like figures made of straw and hay.

At dawn, when there was a great fog, Zhuge Liang deployed the boats and they sailed towards Cao Cao's camp across the river. He ordered the troops to beat war drums loudly and shout orders to imitate the noise of an attack. Upon hearing the noise, Cao Cao's troops rushed out to engage the enemy, but they were unsure of the enemy's strength, because their vision was obscured by the fog. They fired volleys of arrows towards the sound of the drums and the arrows became stuck in the straw figures. In the meantime, Zhuge Liang was enjoying wine with Lu Su inside the cabin and they returned to camp when the fog cleared. Zhuge Liang acquired more than 100,000 arrows with this ingenious strategy and Zhou Yu had no choice but to let him off.

Praying for the eastern wind

Before the Battle of Red Cliffs, when all preparations for the fire attack on Cao Cao's fleet had been made, Zhou Yu suddenly realized that the wind was not blowing to their advantage, because the eastern wind was required to enhance the fire attack. He collapsed and became ill. Zhuge Liang visited him and prescribed a "cure" for him, by offering to pray for the eastern wind. Days later, the eastern wind started blowing, much to everyone's surprise. Zhou Yu was pleased, but became worried because he thought Zhuge Liang possessed magical powers and would become a greater threat to his lord. He sent men to kill Zhuge Liang at the altar, but Zhuge anticipated his move and had already escaped under Zhao Yun's protection.

Stone Sentinel Maze

In chapter 84, Liu Bei was defeated by Eastern Wu's Lu Xun at the Battle of Xiaoting and he fled towards Baidicheng with Lu Xun hot on pursuit. When Lu Xun arrived at Yufu Shore by the Yangtze River near Baidicheng, he felt a strong enemy presence and cautioned his troops of a possible ambush. He sent men to scout ahead, who reported that the area was deserted except for some scattered piles of rocks. Bewildered, Lu Xun asked a local, who told him that ''qi'' started emerging from the area after Zhuge Liang arranged the rocks there when he first entered Sichuan.

Lu Xun personally inspected the area and believed that the "maze" was only a petty display of deception, so he led a few men inside. Just as he was about to leave, a strong gust of wind blew. Dust storms overshadowed the sky and the rocks seemed like swords, mountainous piles of dirt emerged while the river waves sounded like an attacking army. Lu Xun exclaimed, "I have fallen into Zhuge Liang's trap!", and attempted to escape from the maze but to no avail.

Suddenly, Lu Xun saw an old man, who offered him assistance in exiting the labyrinth. Lu Xun followed him and got out of the maze unharmed. The old man identified himself as Huang Chengyan, Zhuge Liang's father-in-law. He explained to Lu Xun that the maze was constructed based on the ''ba gua'' concept. Huang Chengyan also told Lu Xun that Zhuge Liang had predicted that a Wu general would chance upon the maze when he first built it, and had asked him not to lead the general out when he fell into the trap. Lu Xun dismounted and thanked Huang Chengyan. When he returned to camp, he exclaimed that he was inferior to Zhuge Liang in terms of intelligence.

Empty Fort Strategy

During the first Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang's efforts to conquer Chang'an were undermined by the Shu defeat at the Battle of Jieting. With the loss of Jieting, Zhuge Liang's current location, Xicheng, was in peril of being attacked by the Wei army. In the face of imminent danger, with his main force deployed elsewhere and only a small group of soldiers in the city, Zhuge Liang came up with a ploy to hold off the approaching enemy.

Zhuge Liang ordered all the city gates to be opened and instructed soldiers disguised as civilians to sweep the roads while he sat on the viewing platform above the gates with two boys flanking him. He put on a calm and composed image by playing his guqin. When Sima Yi arrived with the Wei army, he was surprised by the scene before him and ordered a retreat after suspecting that there was an ambush inside the city. Zhuge Liang later explained that his strategy was a risky one. It worked because Zhuge Liang had a reputation for being a careful military tactician who hardly took risks, so Sima Yi came to the conclusion that there was an ambush upon seeing Zhuge's relaxed composure.

Events before his death

When Zhuge Liang fell critically ill during the Battle of Wuzhang Plains, he attempted to extend his lifespan by 12 years through a ritual. However, he failed when the ritual was disrupted by Wei Yan, who rushed in to warn him about the enemy's advance. Before his death, Zhuge Liang also passed his ''24 Volumes on Military Strategy'' (兵法二十四篇) to Jiang Wei, who would continue his legacy and lead another nine campaigns against the state of Wei.

Temple of the Marquis of Wu

There are many temples to commemorate the Marquis of Wu, the most famous ones are the Temple of the Marquis of Wu in Chengdu, and Temple of the Marquis of Wu in Baidicheng

Modern references

Film and television

Zhuge Liang was featured as a minor character in the 2008 film ''Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon'' and was played by Pu Cunxin. Takeshi Kaneshiro played Zhuge Liang in John Woo's ''Red Cliff''.

Zhuge Liang was played by veteran Chinese actor Tang Guoqiang in the 1994 CCTV drama ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', based on the novel of the same title. Lu Yi played Zhuge Liang in ''Three Kingdoms'', a 2010 remake of the 1994 CCTV series. Alan Ke played the role of Zhuge Liang in the 2009 Taiwanese teen idol drama ''K.O.3an Guo'', a parody of ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' in a modern setting.

Video games

Zhuge Liang's reputation for being an unparalleled genius is also emphasised in his portrayal in video games. Reflecting his status as the most highly regarded strategist in ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', games such as ''Destiny of an Emperor'' and Koei's ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' game series place Zhuge Liang's intelligence statistic as the highest of all characters. He is also a playable character in Koei's ''Dynasty Warriors'', ''Dynasty Tactics'' and ''Kessen II''.

Zhuge Liang is the protagonist in Koei's tactical role-playing game ''Sangokushi Koumeiden'', where he can die at the Battle of Wuzhang Plains, as he did historically, or proceed to restore the Han Dynasty under Emperor Xian.

In ''Warriors Orochi'', Zhuge Liang pretends to be an ally of Orochi. While he was facing Zhao Yun and Sun Ce's forces, he betrayed Daji and made her show him where Liu Bei was being held. In ''Warriors Orochi 2'', he discovers Daji's hideout in Shiting, and he and his wife, Huang Yueying, help to capture both Daji and Himiko. He later suspects Taigong Wang of purposefully letting Daji and Himiko go. In Dream Mode, he teams up with Zhou Yu, Takeda Shingen, Taishi Ci, and Gan Ning in holding off Shima Sakon's forces, Uesugi Kenshin, and Sima Yi.

Zhuge Liang appears in the game ''Civilization V'' as a great general along with Cao Cao.

Card games

In the collectible card game ''Magic: The Gathering'', there is a card named "Kongming, Sleeping Dragon" in the ''Portal Three Kingdoms'' set.

Comics

The young Chu-Ko Liang is a member of the League of Infinity in the superhero pastiche ''Supreme'' by Alan Moore.

In the manhua ''Faeries' Landing'', the protagonist of the story is a high-school student named Ryang Jegal, whose life is turned upside-down by a fairy and her heavenly (and not-so-heavenly) peers. Ryang Jegal, or Jegal Ryang in the proper Asian sequence, is the Korean translation of "Zhuge Liang".

See also

List of people of the Three Kingdoms

List of Dynasty Warriors characters

Notes

I. Some other historical sources contradict this story, claiming that it was Zhuge who visited Liu Bei first and offered his services.

References

Footnotes

Books

.

Category:181 births Category:234 deaths Category:Aviation pioneers Category:Chinese inventors Category:Ancient Chinese military writers Category:Ancient Chinese military engineers Category:People from Linyi Category:Shu Han regents Category:3rd-century heads of government Category:Officials under Liu Bei

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Name	Cao Cao
Title	King
Kingdom	Wei
birth date	155
birth place	Bozhou, Anhui, China
Death date	March 15, 220 (aged 64–65)
Death place	Luoyang, Henan, China
Successor	Cao Pi
Simp	曹操
Trad	曹操
Pinyin	Cáo Cāo
Wg	Ts'ao2 Ts'ao1
Zi	Mengde (孟德)
Post	King Wu (武王)Emperor Wu (武帝)
Temple	Taizu (太祖)
Other	}}

Cao Cao (; 155 – March 15, 220) was a warlord and the penultimate chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during the dynasty's final years. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and was posthumously titled Emperor Wu of Wei. Although often portrayed as a cruel and merciless tyrant, Cao Cao has also been praised as a brilliant ruler and military genius who treated his subordinates like his family. He was also skilled in poetry and martial arts and wrote many war journals.

Biography

Early life

Cao was born in the county of Qiao (present day Bozhou, Anhui) in 155. His father Cao Song was a foster son of Cao Teng, who in turn was one of the favorite eunuchs of Emperor Huan. Some historical records, including the ''Biography of Cao Man'', claim that Cao Song's original family name was Xiahou.

Cao was known for his craftiness as an adolescent. According to the ''Biography of Cao Man'', Cao's uncle complained to Cao Song about Cao Cao's indulgence in hunting and music with Yuan Shao. In retaliation, Cao Cao feigned a fit before his uncle, who immediately rushed to inform Cao Song. When Cao Song went to see his son, Cao Cao behaved normally. When asked, Cao Cao replied, "I have never had a fit, but I lost the love of my uncle, and therefore he deceived you." Afterwards, Cao Song ceased to believe his brother regarding Cao Cao, and thus Cao Cao became even more blatant and perseverant in his wayward pursuits.

At that time, a man living in Runan named Xu Shao was famed for his ability to evaluate one's potentials and talents. Cao paid him a visit in hopes of receiving an evaluation that would help him politically. At first, Xu refused to make a statement; however, under persistent questioning, he finally said, "You would be a capable minister in peaceful times and an unscrupulous hero in chaotic times." Cao laughed and left. It is worth noting that there are two other versions of the comment in other unofficial historical records: "capable minister in peaceful times, unrighteous hero in chaotic times" and "sinister foe in peaceful times, great hero in chaotic times."

At the age of 20, Cao was appointed district captain of Luoyang. Upon taking up the post, Cao placed rows of multicolored stakes outside his office and ordered his deputies to flog those who violated the law, regardless of their status. An uncle of Jian Shuo, one of the most powerful and influential eunuchs under Emperor Ling, was caught walking in the city after the evening curfew by Cao's men and was flogged. This prompted Jian Shuo and other higher authorities to "promote" Cao to a position outside the imperial capital, governor of Dunqiu County. Cao remained in this position for little more than a year, being dismissed from office in 178 for his distant family ties with the disgraced Empress Song. Around 180, Cao Cao returned to court as a Consultant (議郎) and presented two memoranda against the eunuchs' influence in court and government corruption during his tenure, to limited effect.

When the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184, Cao was recalled to Luoyang and appointed "Captain of the Cavalry" (騎都尉) and sent to Yingchuan to suppress the rebels. He was successful and was sent to Ji'nan (濟南) as Chancellor (相) to prevent the spread of Yellow Turban influence there. In Ji'nan, Cao Cao aggressively enforced the ban on unorthodox cults, destroyed shrines, and supported state Confucianism. He offended the local leading families in the process, and resigned on grounds of poor health around 187, fearing that he had put his family in danger. He was offered the post of Administrator of Dong Commandery (東郡), but he declined and returned to his home in Pei county. Around that time, Wang Fen (王芬) tried to recruit Cao Cao to join his coup to replace Emperor Ling with the Marquis of Hefei, but Cao Cao refused. The plot came to nothing, and Wang Fen killed himself.

Alliance against Dong Zhuo

Summary of major events
155	Born in Qiao.
180s
190	Joined the coalition against Dong Zhuo.
196
200	Won the Battle of Guandu.
208	Lost the Battle of Red Cliffs.
213	Created Duke of Wei and given ten commanderies as his dukedom.
216	Received the title King of Wei.
220	Died in Luoyang.
—	Enthroned posthumously as Emperor Wu.

After eighteen months in retirement, Cao Cao returned to the imperial capital in 188. That year, he was appointed Colonel Who Arranges the Army (典軍校尉), fourth of eight heads of a newly established imperial army, the corps of the Western Garden (西園軍). The effectiveness of this new force never became known, since it was disbanded the next year.

In 189, Emperor Ling died and was succeeded by his eldest son (Emperor Shao), although state power was mainly in the hands of Empress Dowager He and others. The empress dowager's brother, General-in-Chief He Jin, plotted with Yuan Shao to eliminate the Ten Attendants (a group of influential eunuchs in the imperial court). He Jin summoned Dong Zhuo, a seasoned general of Liang Province, to lead his army into Luoyang to pressure the empress dowager to surrender power, despite accusations of Dong's "infamy". Before Dong arrived, He Jin was assassinated by the eunuchs and Luoyang was thrown into chaos as Yuan Shao's supporters fought the eunuchs. Dong's army easily rid the palace grounds of opposition. After he deposed Emperor Shao, Dong placed the puppet Emperor Xian on the throne, as he deemed that Emperor Xian was more capable than the original puppet Emperor Shao.

After rejecting Dong Zhuo's appointment, Cao left Luoyang for Chenliu (southeast of present day Kaifeng, Henan, Cao's hometown), where he built his army. The next year, regional warlords formed a military alliance under Yuan Shao against Dong. Cao joined them, becoming one of the few actively fighting members of the coalition. The coalition fell apart after months of inactivity, and China fell into civil war while Dong was killed in 192 by Lü Bu.

Securing the emperor

Through short-term and regional-scale wars, Cao continued to expand his power. In 193, Cao massacred thousands of civilians in Xu Province to avenge his father's death.

In 196, Cao joined Emperor Xian and convinced him to move the capital to Xuchang as suggested by Xun Yu and other advisors, as Luoyang was ruined by war and Chang'an was not under Cao's military control, and he was appointed chancellor. Cao became commander-in-chief (大將軍) and Marquis of Wuping (武平侯), though both titles had little practical implication. While some viewed the emperor as a puppet under Cao's control, Cao adhered to a strict personal rule to his death that he would not usurp the throne. Later, when he was approached by his advisors to overthrow the Han Dynasty and start his own dynasty, he replied, "If heaven bestows such a fate upon me, let me be King Wen of Zhou."

To maintain a good relationship with Yuan Shao, who had become the most powerful warlord in China when he united the northern four provinces, Cao lobbied to have Yuan appointed Minister of Works. However, this had the opposite effect, as Yuan believed that Cao was trying to humiliate him, since Minister of Works technically ranked lower than Commander-in-chief, and thus refused to accept the title. To pacify Yuan, Cao offered his own position to him, while becoming Minister of Works himself. While this temporarily resolved the conflict, it was the catalyst for the Battle of Guandu later.

Uniting the North

In 200, Yuan Shao amassed more than 100,000 troops and marched southwards on Xuchang in the name of rescuing the emperor. Cao gathered 20,000 men in Guandu, a strategic point on the Yellow River. The two armies came to a standstill as neither side was able to make much progress. Cao's lack of men did not allow him to make significant attacks, and Yuan's pride forced him to meet Cao's force head-on. Despite his overwhelming advantage in terms of manpower, Yuan was unable to make full use of his resources because of his indecisive leadership and Cao's position.

Besides the middle battleground of Guandu, two lines of battle were present. The eastern line with Yuan Tan of Yuan Shao's army against Zang Ba of Cao's army was a one-sided battle in favor of Cao, as Yuan Tan's poor leadership was no match for Zang's local knowledge of the landscape and his hit-and-run tactics. On the western front, Yuan Shao's nephew, Gao Gan, performed better against Cao's army and forced several reinforcements from Cao's main camp to maintain the western battle. Liu Bei, then a guest in Yuan Shao's army, suggested that he instigate rebellion in Cao's territories as many followers of Yuan were in Cao's lands. The tactic was initially successful but Man Chong's diplomatic skills helped to resolve the conflict almost immediately. Man had been placed as an official there for this specific reason, as Cao had foreseen the possibility of insurrection prior to the battle.

Finally, a defector from Yuan Shao's army, Xu You, informed Cao of the location of Yuan's supply depot. Cao broke the stalemate by sending a special group of soldiers to burn all the supplies of Yuan's army, thus winning a decisive and seemingly impossible victory. Yuan Shao fell ill and died shortly after the defeat, leaving two sons – the eldest son, Yuan Tan and the youngest son, Yuan Shang. As he had designated the youngest son, Yuan Shang, as his successor, rather than the eldest as tradition dictated, the two brothers fought each other, as they fought Cao. Cao used the internal conflict within the Yuan clan to his advantage and defeated the Yuans easily. Cao assumed effective rule over all of northern China. He sent armies further out and expanded his control across the Great Wall into present-day Korea, and southward to the Han River.

The Three Kingdoms

However, Cao's attempt to extend his domination south of the Yangtze River was unsuccessful. He received an initial success when Liu Biao, Administrator of Jing Province, died, and his successor, Liu Cong surrendered to Cao without resistance. Delighted by this, he pressed on despite objections from his military advisors and hoped the same would happen again. His forces were defeated by a coalition of his arch-rivals Liu Bei and Sun Quan (who later founded the states of Shu Han and Eastern Wu respectively) at the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208.

In 213, Cao was titled "Duke of Wei" (魏公), given the nine bestowments, and given a fief of ten cities under his domain, known as Wei. In 216, Cao was promoted to "King of Wei" (魏王). Over the years, Cao, as well as Liu Bei and Sun Quan, continued to consolidate their power in their respective regions. Through many wars, China became divided into three powers – Wei, Shu and Wu, which fought sporadic battles without the balance tipping significantly in anyone's favor.

In 220, Cao died in Luoyang at the age of 65, having failed to unify China under his rule. His will instructed that he be buried near Ximen Bao's tomb in Ye without gold and jade treasures, and that his subjects on duty at the frontier were to stay in their posts and not attend the funeral as, in his own words, "the country is still unstable".

Cao's eldest surviving son Cao Pi succeeded him. Within a year, Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian to abdicate and proclaimed himself the first emperor of Cao Wei. Cao Cao was then posthumously titled "Grand Ancestor Emperor Wu".

Family

Foster grandfather: Cao Teng, eunuch official, descendant of Cao Shen

Father: Cao Song, served as Grand Commandant during the reign of Emperor Ling

Spouses:

*Lady Bian, Cao Cao's official spouse, bore Cao Pi, Cao Zhang, Cao Zhi, Cao Xiong and Cao Jie

*Lady Ding (丁夫人), Cao Cao's first wife, fell out with him after Cao Ang's death

*Lady Liu (劉夫人), Lady Ding's servant, later became Cao Cao's concubine, died of illness at a young age, bore Cao Ang and Cao Shuo

*Lady Huan (環夫人), bore Cao Chong, Cao Ju (曹據) and Cao Yu

*Lady Du (杜夫人), bore Cao Lin, Cao Gun and Princess Jinxiang

*Lady Qin (秦夫人), bore Cao Xuan and Cao Jun (曹峻)

*Lady Yin (尹夫人), bore Cao Ju (曹矩)

*Lady Wang (王昭儀), bore Cao Gan

*Consort Sun (孫姬), bore Cao Shang, Cao Biao and Cao Qin

*Consort Li (李姬), bore Cao Cheng, Cao Zheng and Cao Jing

*Consort Zhou (周姬), bore Cao Jun (曹均)

*Consort Liu (劉姬), bore Cao Ji

*Consort Song (宋姬), bore Cao Hui

*Consort Zhao (趙姬), bore Cao Mao

*Laiying'er (來鶯兒), a prostitute from Luoyang, later fell in love with Cao Cao's bodyguard Wang Tu (王圖)

*Consort Chen (陳妾)

Children:

*Sons:

**Cao Ang, raised by Lady Ding, killed in action at the Battle of Wancheng

**Cao Pi, became the first emperor of Cao Wei after forcing Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate. See Cao Pi#Family for details on Cao Pi's family.

**Cao Zhang, instated as Prince of Rencheng in 223. Fathered Cao Kai (曹楷).

**Cao Zhi, instated as Prince of Chen in 225. See Cao Zhi#Family for details on Cao Zhi's family.

**Cao Xiong, died at a young age. Fathered Cao Bing (曹炳).

**Cao Shuo (曹鑠), died at a young age, posthumously granted title of Prince of Shang by Cao Rui. Fathered Cao Qian (曹潛). Cao Qian fathered Cao Yan (曹偃).

**Cao Chong, died at a young age

**Cao Ju (曹據), instated as Prince of Pengcheng in 232. Fathered Cao Cong (曹琮), Cao Fan (曹范) and Cao Chan (曹闡).

**Cao Yu (曹宇), instated as Prince of Yan in 232. Fathered Cao Huan.

**Cao Lin (曹林), instated as Prince of Pei in 232. Fathered Cao Wei (曹緯).

**Cao Gun (曹袞), instated as Prince of Zhongshan in 232. Fathered Cao Fu (曹孚).

**Cao Xuan (曹玹), instated as Marquis of Xixiang in 211. Fathered Cao Heng (曹恒).

**Cao Jun (曹峻), instated as Prince of Chenliu in 232. Fathered Cao Ao (曹澳).

**Cao Ju (曹矩), died at a young age

**Cao Gan (曹幹), instated as Prince of Zhao in 232

**Cao Shang (曹上), died at a young age

**Cao Biao (曹彪), instated as Prince of Chu in 232. Forced to commit suicide in 251 after staging a rebellion with Wang Ling. Fathered Cao Jia (曹嘉).

**Cao Qin (曹勤), died at a young age

**Cao Cheng (曹乘), died at a young age

**Cao Zheng (曹整), instated as Marquis of Mei in 217

**Cao Jing (曹京), died at a young age

**Cao Jun (曹均), instated as Marquis of Fan in 217. Fathered Cao Wan (曹琬), Cao Min (曹敏) and Cao Kang (曹抗). Cao Wan fathered Cao Lian (曹廉); Cao Min fathered Cao Kun (曹焜); Cao Kang fathered Cao Chen (曹諶).

**Cao Ji (曹棘), died at a young age

**Cao Hui (曹徽), instated as Prince of Dongping in 232. Fathered Cao Xi (曹翕).

**Cao Mao (曹茂), instated as Prince of Quyang in 232

**Cao Ping (曹平), instated as Marquis of Wu in 232

*Daughters:

**Cao Jie (曹節), empress of Emperor Xian

**Cao Hua (曹華), concubine of Emperor Xian

**Princess Anyang (安陽公主), personal name unknown, married Xun Yu's son Xun Yun (荀惲)

**Princess Jinxiang (金鄉公主), personal name unknown, married He Yan

**Princess Qinghe (清河公主), personal name unknown, married Xiahou Mao

**Princess Linfen (臨汾公主), personal name unknown

*Foster children:

**Cao Zhen, distant nephew

**Cao Xian (曹憲), daughter of Lady Huan and her ex-husband Bian Rang (邊讓), concubine of Emperor Xian

**Qin Lang, son of Lady Du and her ex-husband Qin Yilu (秦宜祿)

**He Yan (何晏), son of Lady Yin and her ex-husband He Wei (何威)

Appointments and titles held

Filial and Incorrupt (孝廉) - nominated candidate to be a Gentleman Cadet

Gentleman Cadet (郎)

Captain of the North District of Luoyang (洛陽北部尉)

Prefect of Dunqiu (頓丘令)

Consultant (議郎)

Commandant of Cavalry (騎都尉)

Chancellor of Jinan (濟南相)

Colonel Who Arranges the Army (典軍校尉)

Colonel of Valiant Cavalry (驍騎校尉)

General Who Uplifts the Military (奮武將軍)

Governor of Yan Province (兗州牧)

General Who Builds Virtue (建德將軍)

General Who Guards the East (鎮東將軍)

Marquis of Fei Village (費亭侯)

General-in-Chief (大將軍)

Marquis of Wuping (武平侯)

Excellency of Works (司空)

General of Chariots and Cavalry (車騎將軍)

Imperial Chancellor (丞相)

Duke of Wei (魏公)

King of Wei (魏王)

:''The following two titles were granted to Cao Cao posthumously''

King Wu (武王)

Grand Ancestor Emperor Wu (太祖武皇帝) - sometimes shortened to "Emperor Wu of Wei" (魏武帝)

Contributions

Agriculture and education

While waging military campaigns against his enemies, Cao did not forget the basis of society – agriculture and education.

In 194, a locust plague caused a major famine across China. According to the ''Records of Three Kingdoms'', the people ate each other out of desperation. Without food, many armies were defeated without fighting. From this experience, Cao saw the importance of an ample food supply in building a strong military. He began a series of agricultural programs in cities such as Xuchang and Chenliu. Refugees were recruited and given wasteland to cultivate. Later, encampments not faced with imminent danger of war were also made to farm. This system was continued and spread to all regions under Cao as his realm expanded. Although Cao's primary intention was to build a powerful army, the agricultural program also improved the living standards of the people, especially war refugees.

By 203, Cao had eliminated most of Yuan Shao's force. This afforded him more attention on construction within his realm. In autumn of that year, Cao passed an order decreeing the promotion of education throughout the counties and cities within his jurisdiction. An official in charge of education was assigned to each county with at least 500 households. Youngsters with potential and talents were selected for schooling. This prevented a lapse in the output of intellectuals in those warring years and, in Cao's words, would benefit the people.

Poetry

Cao was an accomplished poet. Although few of his works remain today, his verses, unpretentious yet profound, contributed to reshaping the poetic style of his time. He and his sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi are collectively known as the "Three Caos" in poetry. Along with those of several other poets, their poems formed the backbone of what was to be known as the ''jian'an'' style (建安風骨; jian'an is the era name for the period from 196 to 220).

The civil strife towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty gave the ''jian'an'' poems their characteristicly solemn yet heart-stirring tone, which frequently lament over the ephemerality of life. In the history of Chinese literature, the ''jian'an'' poems were a transition from the early folksongs into scholarly poetry.

One of Cao's most celebrated poems, written during the Battle of White Wolf Mountain against the northern Wuhuan in 207, is ''Though the Tortoise Lives Long'' (龜雖壽).

Another Cao Cao's most well known poems, written right before the Battle of Red Cliffs in the winter of 208 AD, is ''Short Song Style''. (短歌行)

Cultural legacy

While historical records indicate Cao as a brilliant ruler, he was represented as a cunning and deceitful man in Chinese opera, where the character of Cao is given a white facial makeup to reflect his treacherous personality. When writing the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', Luo Guanzhong took much of his inspiration from the opera.

As a result, unscrupulous depictions of Cao have become much more popular among the common people than his real image. There have been attempts to revise this depiction.

As the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' has been adapted to modern forms of entertainment, so has its portrayal of Cao. Given the source material upon which these adaptations are founded, Cao continues to be characterised as a prominent villain.

Through to modern times, the Chinese equivalent of the English idiom "speak of the Devil" is "Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives." ().

Purported discovery of Cao Cao's tomb

The discovery of Cao's tomb in Xigaoxue Village (西高穴村) in Anyang County, Henan was reported by archaeologists in December 2009. Legends tell that the tomb was protected by 72 decoys to keep its location secret, though the recent discovery casts doubt on that legend. The tomb was unearthed by workers of a nearby kiln when they were digging mud for making bricks, but the discovery was not initially reported to the authorities. Tomb raiding had been carried on since the tomb's initial discovery, until local authorities seized stone tablets carrying inscriptions of "King Wu of Wei" (魏武王) — Cao's posthumous reference — from tomb raiders and brought the tomb to light. Archaeologists began excavating the tomb in December 2008.

The 740-square-meter tomb, a size appropriate for a king, was determined to have been built at the time of Wei and to be that of Cao. Within the tomb were stone tablets identifying Cao as the owner of the tomb, 250 artifacts including weapons, armour, and pottery, the remains of a man in his 60s, and the bones of two women in their 50s and 20s. No luxury items were found in the tomb, which is in accordance to Cao's will that he should be buried simply. The bodies are believed to be Cao and his wife, along with her female servant.

Since its discovery, there have been many skeptics and experts who pointed out problems with the discovery and doubt about the tomb's authenticity. For instance, Professor Yuan Jixi of Renmin University's Faculty of Ancient Chinese Study suggests that because this tomb had been greatly disturbed by tomb raiders, the items found in the tomb cannot be guaranteed as original, and the most important evidence carrying inscriptions of "King Wu of Wei" may have been created by modern antique traders. A total of 23 experts and scholars from across China presented evidence at the National High-Level Forum on Culture of the Three Kingdoms Period held in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province in August 2010 to argue that the findings and the artifacts of the tomb were faked.

In fiction

''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', a historical novel by Luo Guanzhong, was a romanticization of the events that occurred during the Three Kingdoms period. While adhering to historical facts most of the time, the novel inevitably re-shaped Cao dramatically to some extent, so as to portray him as a cruel and suspicious villain. In some chapters, Luo created fictional or semi-fictional events involving Cao. They include:

Planned assassination of Dong Zhuo

While in reality Cao did leave Dong Zhuo, the tyrannical warlord who held Emperor Xian hostage in 190 to consolidate power, Luo Guanzhong took a step further in describing Cao's attempted assassination on Dong:

Dong deposed Emperor Shao, the successor of the late Emperor Ling, and placed Emperor Xian on the throne. His autocratic behavior and acts of brutality against his political opponents and the common people incurred the anger of various court officials. One of them, Wang Yun, called for a secret meeting of the officials under the pretext of his birthday celebration. During the feast, Wang cried upon recalling the cruel deeds of Dong. His colleagues felt the same anguish and joined him in tears.

Cao, however, laughed and said, "All the officials of the court – crying from dusk till dawn and from dawn till dusk – can you make Dong Zhuo die by crying?" Wang met him in private later and lent him the Seven Gems Sword (七星劍) after Cao promised to assassinate Dong Zhuo personally.

The next day, Cao brought the precious sword to see Dong. Having much trust in Cao, Dong received the guest in his bedroom. Lü Bu, Dong's foster son, left the room for the stable to select a better horse for Cao, who complained about his slow ride. When Dong turned away, Cao prepared to unsheathe the sword. However, Dong saw Cao's action through a reflection in the mirror and hastily turned to question Cao's intention. Coincidentally, Lü Bu returned at that moment as well. In desperation, Cao knelt down and claimed that he wanted to present the sword to Dong. Cao seized the opportunity to escape from Luoyang under the pretext of trying a ride on the new horse. Dong realized later that Cao had intended to assassinate him and sent his men to summon Cao back to see him. However, Cao had already escaped and Dong issued an order for Cao's arrest.

Murder of Lü Boshe

Following the escape from Dong Zhuo is a legendary episode aimed at illustrating Cao's near-Machiavellian tendencies for later characterizations of him as a villain. Though never exactly proven, it is said that Cao escaped with Chen Gong, a county magistrate who arrested him earlier and released him out of admiration for Cao's sense of righteousness later. They sought shelter at the home of Lü Boshe, a close friend of Cao's father. Lü promised to protect him and left to purchase some materials in preparation for a feast. Cao and Chen overheard a conversation between Lü's servants about a murder plot. Cao's suspicious nature caused him to jump to the conclusion that Lü Boshe had deceived him and intended to kill him and hand over his corpse to Dong Zhuo for a reward. Cao and Chen burst in and killed everyone in the house, including Lü's wife and children. They discovered later that the servants were actually discussing how to "murder" (slaughter) a pig for the feast.

Cao and Chen fled immediately and ran into Lü Boshe, who had just returned from his errand. When questioned, Cao provided an excuse, saying that he was afraid of being followed, as the reason for his abrupt departure. Cao then asked Lü, "Who's that behind you?" When Lü turned around, Cao stabbed and killed him from behind. Chen was shocked and asked him why he committed that atrocity. Cao explained that it was for their safety, because if Lü went home and saw the ghastly sight, he would report the murder to the authorities and hence create serious trouble for them. Cao then raised his sword and famously said, "I'd rather let the world down than to allow the world to let me down." (寧教我負天下人，休教天下人負我). According to Cao's biography in ''Records of Three Kingdoms'', Cao said "I'd rather let others down than to allow others to let me down." (寧我負人，毋人負我) with a sense of regret and remorse. The exact quote was altered in Luo Guanzhong's ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', with "world" (天下人; literally: people under Heaven) replacing "others" (人; literally: people). Historian Yi Zhongtian speculated that Cao was probably trying to console himself after mistakenly killing Lü Boshe, by speaking with a sense of remorse. Yi believed that Luo had changed the quote to reflect that Cao had no sense of remorse (because "world" carries greater weight than "others"), so as to enhance Cao's image as a villain in his novel.

Strict disciplinarian

Du Mu's account of Cao's life states that he was such a strict disciplinarian. He cited the example of an incident, in which Cao condemned himself to death for having allowed his horse to stray into a field of corn, violating a military law that dictates any soldier who damages commoners' crops would be executed. However, in lieu of losing his head, he was persuaded to satisfy his sense of justice by cutting off a lock of his hair. "When you pass a law, see that it is not disobeyed; if it is disobeyed, the offender must be punished."

Death of Cao Cao and Hua Tuo

In 220, Cao died in Luoyang due to an unknown illness. Legends contain explanations for the cause of his death. ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' included some of these legends, as well as Luo Guanzhong's own story about the involvement of Hua Tuo, a renowned Chinese physician.

When Cao started complaining about splitting headaches in the last days of his life, his subjects recommended Hua Tuo, a physician with remarkable healing skills. Upon examination, Hua diagnosed Cao's illness to be a form of rheumatism in the skull. He suggested giving Cao a dose of hashish and then splitting open his skull with a sharp axe to extract the pus within.

Due to an earlier incident with another physician called Ji Ping, who attempted to poison him, Cao grew suspicious of any physician. Cao believed that Hua intended to kill him to avenge the death of Guan Yu. He had Hua imprisoned and Hua died a few days later. Without proper treatment, Cao died soon as well. In another account of Cao's cause of death, it was said that a curse befell him when he tried to cut down a sacred tree and use its wood to build a lavish villa.

Modern references

Film and television

The "Father of Hong Kong cinema", Lai Man-Wai, played Cao Cao in ''The Witty Sorcerer'', a 1931 comedy film based on the story of Zuo Ci playing tricks on Cao Cao. In the Shaw Brothers film ''The Weird Man'', Cao Cao was seen in the beginning of the film with Zuo Ci. Zuo Ci was playing tricks on him by giving him a tangerine with no fruit inside. This was later referenced in another film titled ''Five Element Ninjas''. Other notable actors who have portrayed Cao Cao in film and television include Bao Guo'an (''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''), Damian Lau (''Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon''), Zhang Fengyi (''Red Cliff''), Chen Jianbin (''Three Kingdoms''), and Jiang Wen (''The Lost Bladesman'').

Video games

Cao Cao appears in all 11 installments of Koei's ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' strategy game. In each game, his statistics and skills make him one of the best faction leaders in the game. In ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI'', the sum of all of his statistics added up to a grand total of 449 out of 500, making him one of the most versatile characters in the entire game if used properly.

Cao is also a playable character in Koei's ''Dynasty Warriors'' and ''Warriors Orochi'' series. He is portrayed as a relentless opponent backed by strong armies and loyal generals. He is ruthless and wants to end the land's chaos no matter the cost. Unlike Liu Bei and the Sun family, he cares nothing about morals, status or tradition but judges his men based solely on their achievements and abilities. In battle, he wields a jeweled sword and can be found surrounded by his legion of generals and confidants.

Other appearances

As with most of the other relevant generals of the period, Cao is portrayed as a young female character in the ''Koihime Musō'' franchise.

See also

List of people of the Three Kingdoms

List of Dynasty Warriors characters

Notes

References

External links

Cao Cao and the Three Kingdoms: A George Ernest Morrison lecture in Ethnology

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Category:155 births Category:220 deaths Category:3rd-century heads of government Category:3rd-century poets * Category:Cao Wei Category:Chinese non-fiction writers Category:Han Dynasty poets Category:Han Dynasty prime ministers Category:People from Bozhou Category:Han Dynasty warlords *

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Huang Yueying is the fictional name of the wife of Zhuge Liang, the chancellor of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Her personal name was not recorded in history.

In folklore

According to ''Records of Three Kingdoms'', Huang Yueying's father Huang Chengyan approached Zhuge Liang when he wanted to marry. He said, "I have an ugly daughter yet I heard you were looking for a wife. She is marred with red hair and dark skin, but I think her wit is well matched with yours." Zhuge Liang agreed to see her and married her. Shortly after their meeting, her father made the light-hearted proverb, "Do not berate Zhuge Liang's wife or you'll make Chengyan's ugly daughter get you." The message of the statement is to "strive to wed a homely woman" regardless of their looks.

A popular story depicts that Yueying challenged her suitors to personally visit her by claiming that she was ugly. In the possibility that a suitor would visit, she would hide herself under veils as a quiet dare to test their resolve. When Zhuge Liang came to her, her figure was silouetted by the yellow full moon and her head was covered with two red veils. Unlike other men, he entered alone and didn't hesitate to remove her disguises. As he removed the first cloth from her face, he calmly stated that her ugliness was a misunderstanding by her father. He was rewarded by Yueying's joyful visage and gratification.

Another popular interpretation is that while she was beautiful, it was other women in her village whom spread this rumor due to their jealousy.

A memorial for her exists in her supposed hometown of Huang Jia Wan.

Modern references

Huang Yueying is one of many playable characters in the ''Dynasty Warriors'' (titled in the original Japanese versions as 真・三國無双, Shin Sangokumusō, which translates as "True - Three Kingdoms Unrivaled") video game series by Koei, in which her name is simply Yue Ying. She is portrayed as very attractive, spreading false rumors across the land that she is dowdy and plain so that she may find a partner who respects her for her wisdom rather than her physical beauty. In Dynasty Warriors 4 and 5, she wields a war scythe in battle. In Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends, Yue Ying proves the importance and strength of her inventions to Zhuge Liang by using them to repel the 5 Tiger Generals. In Dynasty Warriors 6 , she wields a Bow ('Emerald Dew') & shares a moveset with Sun Shang Xiang. In the updated Dynasty Warriors 6 for PS2, all subsequent Dynasty Warriors 6 expansions, & Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce, she is given a forearm-mounted-canon-blade known as a 'Bladebow' ('Jade Crescent'). She has red hair to go along with the statement that she was said to have red hair and tan skin. She was voiced by Lara Cody in Dynasty Warriors 4 and 5, and also Warriors Orochi 1 and 2.

Huang Yueying appears in Koei's ''Warriors Orochi'' series, where she is held captive and eventually rescued by Zhao Yun in Hasedo. She and Magoichi Saika ally with the remaining forces of Shu and attempt to locate Liu Bei, who has gone missing. In Warriors Orochi 2, Yue Ying and Zhuge Liang ambush Himiko to stop her from escaping Odani Castle. In Dream Mode, she works with Ling Tong, Xiahou Yuan, and Akechi Mitsuhide to repel the enemy attacks on Shikoku.

Huang Yueying appears in Koei's ''Kessen II'', although she bears little resemblance to the woman depicted in the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' novel. She is portrayed as bubbly and enthusiastic, with a tendency to frequently use the word 'yeah' in conversation.

Huang Yueying is a playable general in Koei's ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, she has higher than average ''Intellect'' and ''Politics'' attributes. Although her in-game character biography mentions her 'unpleasant appearance' the portrait used is conventionally attractive.

Huang Yueying appears in the Taiwanese Drama ''K.O.3an Guo'', played by Gui Gui. She is portrayed as a highly intelligent & openly passionate person, who initially offered counsel to Zhuge Liang via graffiti she wrote in a bathroom stall. She attended Jiang Dong High School in her elementary & secondary career, but resigned from formal education afterward due to her dislike of the Nationwide School Union's disciplines. She is skilled in chemistry & engineering.

Huang Yueying appears in the Taiwanese PC video game ''Hou Feng San Guo Online''. She is portrayed as a tough, intelligent "glasses wearing tiger wife" whose anger terrifies Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong. In battle, she uses a self-developed crossbow and is described as Shu's ''"strongest Ice magician"''.

Huang Yueying appears in the Taiwanese ''Zong Heng San Guo Online'' under the name Yueying (月瑛). She is described as learned in astronomy & geography, and is one of two military strategists in Shu alongside Zhuge Liang. She is said to have taught Zhuge Liang much of what he knows, and uses bows & "blunt instruments" in battle.

Huang Yueying appears in Taiwanese ''Meng Jiang Zhuan Online''. She is described as creating the prototype of the Wooden Ox & Floating Horse, and uses a Guandao in battle.

Huang Yueying appears in the Chinese ''Qun Ying Fu Online''. She is described as adept in magic, including the ability to become invisible. She casts her magic through a stuffed toy she carries with her.

See also

List of people of the Three Kingdoms

List of Dynasty Warriors characters

References

External links

The Koei Wiki - Yue Ying

Category:People of Shu Han Category:234 deaths Category:186 births

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