Zhao Yun Biography

Zhao Yun (died 229), courtesy name Zilong, was a military general who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period. Originally a subordinate of the northern warlord Gongsun Zan, Zhao Yun later came to serve another warlord, Liu Bei, and had since accompanied him on most of his military exploits, from the Battle of Changban (208) to the Hanzhong Campaign (217–219). He continued serving in the state of Shu Han – founded by Liu Bei in 221 – in the Three Kingdoms period and participated in the first of the Northern Expeditions until his death in 229. While many facts about Zhao Yun's life remain unclear due to limited information in historical sources, some aspects and activities in his life had been dramatised or exaggerated in folklore and fiction, most notably in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which he was lauded as a member of the Five Tiger Generals under Liu Bei.