183 Beijing Operas - Sun Quan - Number 34

Sun Quan

Beijing Opera - "Sweet Dew Temple"

Sun Quan with a watery white face has a role in the opera "Sweet Dew Temple." Sun Quan could be considered a fortunate guy who is born with a silver spoon. At the young age at eighteen, he succeeded his dying elder brother Sun Ce and took over the territories his brother conquer in the southeast. Young and inexperienced, he followed his dying brother's instructions and that is to consult Zhou Yu on external affairs and Zhang Zhao on internal affairs. With the guidance and advice of these two men, Sun Quan managed to strengthen his position in the southeast and began to plan his territorial expansion. He set his sights on the territories of Jingzhou that was then under the control of Liu Biao.

An attack was launched against Jiangxia and Xiakou that is guarded by Liu Biao's general Huang Zu. Sun Quan's forces were triumphant. Soon Cao Cao marched southwards with his mighty army and with such a big force pressing southwards, Sun Quan was at a loss of whether to accept Cao Cao's alliance proposal to eliminate Liu Bei or ally with Liu Bei to resist Cao Cao. Advised by Zhou Yu, Sun Quan decided to muster all his forces for a decisive battle with Cao Cao. Both forces opposed each other at on the opposite banks of the Yangtze river at Chibi. The great naval battle resulted in a resounding victory for the East Wu troops. The success of this battle contributed rather significantly to the survival of the Wu Kingdom in later years in which the Wu kingdom managed to defend against Wei's invasion with the Yangtze river line of defense acting as a natural geographical barrier making a large scale amphibious assault difficult.