Sun Ce

Who was Sun Ce?

Sun Ce, courtesy name Bofu, was a military general and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. He was the oldest of the children of Sun Jian who was killed during the Battle of Xiangyang when Sun Ce was only 16. Sun Ce then broke away from his father's overlord, Yuan Shu, and headed to southeastern China to establish his own power base there. With the help of several people, such as Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu, Sun Ce managed to lay down the foundation of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period.

In 200, when the warlord Cao Cao was at war with his rival Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu, Sun Ce was rumored to be planning an attack on Cao Cao's capital city of Xuchang. However, he was assassinated before he could carry out the plan. Sun Ce was posthumously honored as "Prince Huan of Changsha" by his younger brother Sun Quan when the latter became the first emperor of Eastern Wu.

Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms describes Sun Ce as a handsome man who was full of laughter. He was also a generous and receptive man who employed people according to their abilities. As such, his subjects were willing to risk their lives for him. One detractor named Xu Gong, in a letter to Emperor Xian, likened Sun Ce to Xiang Yu, the warrior-king who overthrew the Qin Dynasty. As a result, Sun Ce was also referred to as the "Little Conqueror" in popular culture.