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Lady Bu (died c.March or November 238), personal name Bu Lianshi, was a concubine of Sun Quan, the founding emperor of the state of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period of China. She has posthumously been honoured as an empress by Sun Quan. She is also known as Empress Bu.

Life

Lady Bu was from Huaiyin County (淮陰縣), Linhuai Commandery (臨淮郡), which is in present-day Huai'an, Jiangsu. She was born sometime in the late Eastern Han dynasty. She was a relative of Bu Zhi. When she was young, her mother brought her from Huaiyin to Lujiang Commandery (廬江郡; around present-day Anqing, Anhui). In 199, Lujiang was conquered by the warlord Sun Ce, who controlled the territories in the Jiangdong region (also called Wu, covering present-day southeastern China), after which Lady Bu moved from Lujiang to Jiangdong. In Jiangdong, Lady Bu was noticed by Sun Ce's younger brother, Sun Quan, for her beauty and she became Sun Quan's concubine. When Sun Quan abandoned the second wife Lady Xu in 212, Lady Bu became Suan Quan's favourite wife. She bore Sun Quan two daughters: Sun Luban and Sun Luyu.

Lady Bu was known to be very accepting towards Sun Quan's other wives and she recommended other women to his husband. As such, she remained in her husband's favour in the long term. In May 229, when Sun Quan declared himself emperor and established the state of Eastern Wu, he considered whether to install Lady Bu as the empress. However, his subjects nominated Lady Xu to be the empress instead. Sun Quan was so hesitant that he couldn't decide who to make the empress in the following years. Lady Bu's relative referred to Lady Bu as the Empress. On the other hand, Lady Bu was unable to receive support from the crown prince Sun Deng. The crown price treated Lady Xu much better than Lady Bu to express the support for Lady Xu. Lady Bu died in 238 and was posthumously honoured as an empress by Sun Quan on 24 November of that year. She was interred in the Jiang Mausoleum (蔣陵; at the Purple Mountain, Nanjing, Jiangsu).

Lady Bu's personal name was not recorded in her biography in the Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi), the authoritative source for the history of the Three Kingdoms period. However, the Jiankang Shilu mentioned that her personal name was "Lianshi", hence she was also known as "Bu Lianshi".

In popular culture

Lady Bu is first introduced as a playable character in the seventh installment of Koei's Dynasty Warriors video game series. She is referred to as "Lian Shi" in the game.

See also

• Eastern Wu family trees#Sun Quan
• Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms

Notes

1. The Sanguozhi recorded that Lady Bu died in the 1st year of the Chiwu era (238–251) of Sun Quan's reign. Her biography in Sanguozhi recorded an edict by Sun Quan proclaiming her empress posthumously. This edict was issued on the wuzi day of the leap month of that year, which corresponds to 24 Nov 238 in the Julian calendar. Thus, Lady Bu most likely died in Nov 238. However, vol.02 of Jiankang Shilu indicate that Lady Bu was posthumously proclaimed empress in the 2nd month of that year, which corresponds to 3 Mar to 1 Apr 238 in the Julian calendar.

References

1. ^ (赤烏元年春， ... 於是改年。步夫人卒，追贈皇后。) Sanguozhi vol. 47.
2. ^ (二月，追拜夫人步氏為皇后。后諱練師，臨淮淮陰人也。) Jiankang Shilu vol. 2.
3. (徐夫人少有母養之恩,後徐氏以妒廢處吳,而步夫人最寵) Sanguozhi vol. 59.
4. (吳主權步夫人，臨淮淮陰人也，與丞相隲同族。漢末，其母攜將徙廬江，廬江為孫策所破，皆東渡江，以美麗得幸於權，寵冠後庭。生二女，長曰魯班，字大虎，前配周瑜子循，後配全琮；少曰魯育，字小虎，前配朱據，後配劉纂。) Sanguozhi vol. 50.
5. (歩氏有賜、登不敢辭、拜受而已。徐氏使至、所賜衣服、必沐浴服之。登將拜太子、辭曰：「本立而道生、欲立太子、宜先立后。」權曰：「卿母安在？」對曰：「在呉。」權默然。) Sanguozhi vol. 59.
6. (夫人性不妬忌，多所推進，故乆見愛待。權為王及帝，意欲以為后，而羣臣議在徐氏，權依違者十餘年，然宮內皆稱皇后，親戚上疏稱中宮。及薨，臣下緣權指，請追正名號，乃贈印綬，策命曰：「惟赤烏元年閏月戊子，皇帝曰：嗚呼皇后，惟后佐命，共承天地。虔恭夙夜，與朕均勞。內教脩整，禮義不愆。寬容慈惠，有淑懿之德。民臣縣望，遠近歸心。朕以世難未夷，大統未一，緣后雅志，每懷謙損。是以于時未授名號，亦必謂后降年有永，永與朕躬對揚天休。不寤奄忽，大命近止。朕恨本意不早昭顯，傷后殂逝，不終天祿。愍悼之至，痛于厥心。今使使持節丞相醴陵亭侯雍，奉策授號，配食先后。魂而有靈，嘉其寵榮。嗚呼哀哉！」葬於蔣陵。) Sanguozhi vol. 50.

• Chen, Shou (3rd century). Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi).
• Xu, Song (c. 8th century). Jiankang Shilu (建康實錄).

• People of Eastern Wu
• 238 deaths
• Chinese imperial consorts
• People from Huai'an
• Family of Sun Quan
• Eastern Wu posthumous empresses