Zhang Fei

Zhang Fei the Chinese general of the late Han and Three Kingdoms period (c. 165-221 AD), a ferocious warrior and the sworn companion of Liu Bei, remembered for his immense strength, his courage in battle and his fierce, impulsive temperament. He served as one of the foremost commanders of the state of Shu Han.

Early Life and the Bond with Liu Bei

Zhang Fei was born around 165 AD, probably in the region of Zhuo in present-day Hebei, into a family of some means. He met Liu Bei in his youth and, with Guan Yu, became one of his closest companions. The three are said to have treated one another as brothers, sharing hardships and dangers through the long years before Liu Bei found a secure base.

He was physically powerful and of imposing appearance, and his courage in battle became legendary. Unlike the calm and courteous Guan Yu, Zhang Fei was known for his violent temper and his impulsiveness, qualities that made him a fearsome fighter and, ultimately, contributed to his death. The contrast between the two companions became a familiar theme of Chinese tradition.

He followed Liu Bei through the wanderings and defeats of the early period, remaining loyal when others deserted. In the campaigns against the Yellow Turbans, against Dong Zhuo and in the long struggle for territory, he served as one of Liu Bei's most reliable military commanders, and his reputation for ferocity made him a figure whom enemies preferred to avoid.

Military Career and Exploits

Zhang Fei is remembered for several remarkable feats of arms. The most famous is the stand at the bridge over the Changban river in 208 AD, during Liu Bei's flight from Cao Cao's advancing army. According to the traditional account, Zhang Fei held the narrow bridge alone, bellowing challenges and brandishing his spear, and his terrifying aspect and booming voice so daunted the pursuing soldiers that they dared not advance, allowing Liu Bei to escape.

He was a capable commander as well as a fearsome warrior. In the campaigns that established Liu Bei in the west, Zhang Fei led forces with energy and skill. He defeated the general Yan Yan and took the stronghold of Jiangzhou, and his campaigns helped to secure the province of Yi for Liu Bei. He was rewarded with high office and entrusted with the defence of important frontiers.

He was appointed to guard the approaches on the northern border of Shu Han, holding the passes against the forces of Wei. The historian Chen Shou recorded that the rival commanders of Wei respected both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as the two great generals of the age, the ones who could be matched only by the finest commanders of the whole empire.

Character and Reputation

The sources portray Zhang Fei as a man of violent contrasts. He was brave to the point of recklessness, generous to those he admired, and capable of great loyalty, yet also harsh, impatient and prone to fits of rage. He drank heavily and was known for his cruelty toward his subordinates, whom he punished severely for small offences.

His treatment of his own soldiers was the flaw that destroyed him. He had a habit of beating his officers while in a fury and then keeping them close in his service, a practice that his advisers warned could not last. Liu Bei is said to have cautioned him that his cruelty to his men would bring disaster, and the warning proved correct.

Yet he was not merely a brute. He was said to have respected and honoured men of learning and ability, and to have shown courtesy to worthy officials and scholars. His admiration for the refined and the principled suggests a more complex nature than the popular image allows, and the picture of the fierce but devoted companion is more rounded in the histories than in the fiction.

Death and Its Consequences

In 221 AD, when Liu Bei prepared to march against the state of Wu to avenge the death of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei was to lead a force from the north to join the campaign. Before he could set out he was murdered by two of his own subordinate officers, whom he had threatened to punish. They cut off his head and fled to the state of Wu, carrying it to the enemy as a pledge of loyalty.

His death, coming so soon after that of Guan Yu, deprived Liu Bei of both of his oldest companions in the same year. The loss deepened the grief and anger that drove him to the disastrous campaign against Wu, and the two deaths together marked the beginning of the end of Liu Bei's own life and of the hopes of Shu Han for the immediate conquest of the north.

He was honoured by his state with a posthumous title, and his memory was preserved as one of the founders of Shu Han. The manner of his death, at the hands of men he had himself abused, was a fitting if grim illustration of the flaw that ran through his character and that the histories were careful to record.

Cultural and Literary Legacy

Zhang Fei occupies a prominent place in the popular tradition of the Three Kingdoms. In the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms he appears as one of the three sworn brothers, a towering warrior with a thunderous voice and a bristling beard, whose anger is as legendary as his courage. The scene at the Changban bridge, in which his voice alone halts an army, is one of the most famous episodes of the work.

In art and opera he is depicted as a fierce figure with a black or dark complexion, a huge frame and a bristling beard, often wielding a long serpent spear. His role in the traditional drama is the fiery companion whose temper drives the plot forward, and he is set against the dignified Guan Yu and the wise and patient Liu Bei to form the threefold image of the brotherhood.

He is venerated, though less widely than Guan Yu, as a figure of loyalty and martial valour, and temples were sometimes dedicated to him. He remains one of the best-known characters of Chinese historical romance, and the story of the three brothers, brave, loyal and ultimately tragic, has shaped the way generations have imagined the age of the Three Kingdoms.

The historical Zhang Fei emerges from the record as a formidable soldier whose heroism was inseparable from his violence. His courage and his loyalty earned him an enduring place among the heroes of Shu Han, while his cruelty to his own men brought him to a death that the tradition has always regarded as a warning against the abuse of power over those who serve.

See also

• Three Kingdoms
• Liu Bei
• Guan Yu
• Shu Han