Sun Quan
Sun Quan (孫權 pinyin sun1 quan2) (182-252), son of Sun Jian, was the third ruler of "the State of Wu" and the founder of Kingdom of Wu, during the Three Kingdoms period, in China. He ruled from 200 to 222 as "Wu Wang" (King of Wu) and from 222 to 252 as Emperor of Wu Dynasty.In 200, the 18-years-old Sun Quan inherited the very divided lands of YangZhou from his brother Sun Ce. He was lucky to have many talented officers under him, left over by his brother, such as Zhou Yu, Zhang Zhao, Huang Gai, and many others. He would stabilize the fragile union of YangZhou his brother started.
Unlike his competitors, he did not really want to be the Emperor of China. He had considerred twice to surrender to Wei.
In 208, Cao Cao led an army to conquer Wu. Sun Quan found out that Cao Cao would not let him alive if he surrender, and so he teamed up with Liu Bei of Shu and defeated the army of Cao Cao in the Battle of Red Cliff.
In 220, Cao Pi seized the throne of Han dynasty and proclaimed to be the Emperor of China. At first he wanted to be a king in Wei dynasty under Cao Pi but he failed to make a deal, and so in 222, he declared himself to be the founder of Wu Dynasty. It was not until the year 229 that he formally became an emperor.
Because of his skill in gathering important, honorable men to his cause, he was able to delegate authority to capable figures. This primary strength served him well in gaining the support of the common people and surrounding himself with capable generals.
He died in 252 at an age of 71. He enjoyed the longest reign among all rulers of the three kingdoms. Sun Quan was succeeded by his son Sun Liang.
See also: Zhou Tai
See also: Chinese history -- Chinese sovereign -- Sanguoyanyi -- Liu Bei -- Cao Cao -- Battle of Red Cliff
