Zhou Yu
Zhou Yu | |
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| 周瑜 | |
Qing dynasty illustration of Zhou Yu | |
| Administrator of Nan Commandery (南郡太守) (under Sun Quan) | |
| In office 209 – 210 | |
| Monarch | Emperor Xian of Han |
| Lieutenant-General (偏將軍) (under Sun Quan) | |
| In office 209 – 210 | |
| Monarch | Emperor Xian of Han |
| Central Protector of the Army (中護軍) (under Sun Ce, then Sun Quan) | |
| In office 198 – 209 | |
| Monarch | Emperor Xian of Han |
| Administrator of Jiangxia (江夏太守) (under Sun Ce) | |
| In office ?–? | |
| Monarch | Emperor Xian of Han |
| Chief of Chungu (春穀長) (under Sun Ce) | |
| In office ?–? | |
| Monarch | Emperor Xian of Han |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 175 |
| Died | 210 (aged 35) |
| Spouse | Xiao Qiao |
| Children | |
| Parents |
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| Occupation | General, strategist |
| Courtesy name | Gongjin (公瑾) |
| Nickname | "Mei Zhou Lang" (美周郎) |
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| Chinese | 周瑜 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Zhou Yu (Chinese: 周瑜, ⓘ) (175–210), courtesy name Gongjin (Chinese: 公瑾), was a Chinese military general. He served under the warlords Sun Ce and later Sun Quan in the late Eastern Han dynasty. Zhou Yu played a leading role in defeating the numerically superior forces of the northern warlord Cao Cao at the Battle of Red Cliffs in late 208, and again at the Battle of Jiangling in 209. Zhou Yu's victories served as the bedrock of Sun Quan's regime, which in 222 became Eastern Wu. Zhou Yu did not live to see Sun Quan's enthronement, however, as he died at the age of 35 in 210 while preparing to invade Yi Province.
In the 14th-century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which has greatly shaped Zhou Yu’s popular image, he is portrayed as a brilliant and dashing yet temperamentally insecure figure, marked by his jealousy toward Zhuge Liang.