'Empress Wu' (吳皇后, personal name unknown) (died
245), formally 'Empress Mu' (穆皇后, literally "the just empress") was an
empress of
Shu Han during the
Three Kingdoms period. She was the last wife and the only empress of
Liu Bei, the founding emperor of Shu Han, and the younger sister of Wu Yi (吳懿). Her father, whose name is not recorded in history, was a friend of
Liu Yan's, and followed Liu Yan to Yi Province (益州, modern
Sichuan and
Chongqing) when Liu Yan was made the governor. Because of the friendship between her father and Liu Yan, she was married to Liu Yan's son Liu Mao (劉瑁). After Liu Mao's death, she did not remarry for some time.
When Liu Bei seized Yi Province from Lady Wu's brother-in-law
Liu Zhang in
214, he had been effectively divorced from his wife Lady Sun, the sister of
Sun Quan. He married Lady Wu. When he claimed for himself the title of the Prince of Hanzhong in
219, he made her his princess. After the fall of the
Eastern Han Dynasty in
220 (with
Emperor Xian's abdication to
Cao Pi), Liu Bei claimed for himself the Han imperial title in
221, establishing Shu Han. Later that year, he created her empress. After his death in
223, his son and successor
Liu Shan honored her as
empress dowager. She died in
245. (''
Sanguo Zhi'' was inconsistent in stating whether she, or Liu Shan's mother Lady Gan, was buried with their husband Liu Bei.)