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Liu Chan Wikipedia

Liu Chan (劉禪 Pinyin L?u Ch?n, Wade-Giles Liu Ch'an) (207 - 271) was the second and the last emperor of Kingdom of Shu during the period of Three Kingdoms in China, reigning between 223 and 263. He was the son of Liu Bei.

Liu Chan did not really care for governance and left his kingdom in the hands of his ministers (mainly in the hands of a eunuch called Huang Hao. After Kingdom of Wei had conquered Kingdom of Shu, he was captured to Luoyang (the capital of Wei) and given the titular position as Duke of Comfort (安樂公 Anle Gong). Liu Chan was rescued by Zhao Yun at Changban.

Once the emperor of Wei invited Liu Chan and his followers to a party. During the party, entertainers perform traditional Shu dance. All of the former Shu officials present were saddened, while Liu commented:
<blockquote>
I enjoy the life here that I do not think about Shu anymore! (樂不思蜀)
</blockquote>

This phrase becomes an Chinese proverb|idiom in Chinese, meaning "too joyful to think about home", and it is in fact more well-known than Liu Chan himself.

Some traditional historicans accused him for his lack of sincerity in ruling the kingdom, but others praised him as a wise person who saved himself from being (unnecessarily) killed after his country was conquered. These supporters also argued that Liu had already tried his best, but the fact was the Kingdom of Shu|Shu was just too weak compared with the Kingdom of Wei|Wei.

Category:Heroes of the Three Kingdoms
ja:劉禅
zh-cn:刘禅

Last Modified:   2005-04-13