ZHANG FEI

Names
Simplified Chinese:	张飞
Traditional Chinese:	張飛
Pinyin:	Zhāng Fēi
Wade-Giles:	Chang Fei
Zi:	Yìdé (益德)
Alternative zi:	Yìdé (翼德)

'Zhang Fei' (?-221 AD) was a military general of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms era of China.
Zhang Fei was shown to have been a masterful general rather than simply a warrior. He treated his superiors with respect, but had little respect for his underlings.
Zhang Fei married Xiahou Yuan's daughter, who was captured by Zhang Fei's troop as she was out gathering firewood. They had a total of two daughters, and the older daughter became the empresses of Shu Han after marrying Liu Shan with Zhuge Liang as the matchmaker. After Zhang Fei's eldest daughter had passed away due to natural causes, Zhuge Liang once again played the role of matchmaking, and Liu Shan married Zhang Fei's younger daughter, who thus succeeded her older daughter to become the empress of Shu Han.
Zhang Fei is best portrayed through his description and actions depicted in his ''Records of Three Kingdoms'' biography by Chen Shou. Some sources suggest that Zhang Fei was also an excellent painter.
Zhang Fei was killed by his own men Zhang Da and Fan Qiang, while preparing his troops to attack the rival Kingdom of Wu, to avenge the death of Guan Yu. Zhang Da and Fan Qiang went on to defect to Wu.

Contents

In fiction

Modern depictions

Trivia

References

In fiction

In the historical novel ''Romance of Three Kingdoms'', Zhang Fei is styled Yìdé (翼德) instead of Yìdé (益德). He was originally a butcher, then eventually became the second member of the Five Tiger Generals. According to the legend, he swore an oath of brotherhood with Liu Bei and Guan Yu, known as the Oath of the Peach Garden. In the novel, he has an obsession with wine that affected his judgement from time to time; however, that is apparently an invention of the author Luo Guanzhong for the novel as Zhang Fei was not known as an alcoholic historically.
At the Battle of Changban, Zhang Fei spotted the tired Zhao Yun and the baby Liu Shan, who Zhao was carrying, pass by. Facing an impending army of thousands, Zhang Fei rode out alone on the Changban Bridge to hold off the pursuing army of Cao Cao to insure Zhao Yun's escape. He glared and pointed his spear, saying, "I am Zhang Fei of Yan, and anyone can come and challenge me to fight to the death," which was so effective that it was said to have frightened and held off 10,000 troops and scared Xiahou Jie to death. None of the Wei army dared to proceed and even upon the arrival of Cao Cao himself they were still wavering. Cao Cao, fearing an ambush devised by Zhuge Liang, eventually decided not to attack Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei, however, was later rebuked by Liu Bei for ordering his soldiers to burn Changban Bridge so as to delay the pursuit of Cao Cao's forces. Zhang Fei was unhappy about this, and Liu Bei was later proven right when Cao Cao was to guess correctly that Zhang Fei had burned the bridge out of fear. Ironically, Zhang Fei had successfully pulled off a ruse against Cao Cao when he commanded his soldiers to attach logs to their horses so as to raise large dust clouds, creating the illusion that Zhang had a large ambush army with him.
Throughout ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', Zhang Fei is shown as exceedingly loyal and known for his strength and skill as a warrior, but also short tempered, which often got him into problems more times than not on the battlefield. Zhang Fei's fierce sense of loyalty (and perhaps impetuousness) was demonstrated when Guan Yu had left Cao Cao to return to Liu Bei - he had taken refuge when Cao under the condition that he would leave upon discovering his elder brother's whereabouts - and Zhang Fei refused to believe that Guan Yu had not defected to Cao already. Zhang Fei fought with Guan Yu in three fierce rounds, but the latter held back throughout, trying to explain to Zhang the truth. Thankfully, it was resolved without any bloodshed from the brothers. Zhang Fei had a son Zhang Bao, an equally competent general who served the Shu kingdom dutifully. Zhang Bao later personally executed Zhang Da and Fan Qiang, his father's assassins, when Sun Quan, the ruler of Wu, sent them both back to Shu Han as a goodwill gift to negotiate for peace, as Liu Bei had personally led an army against Wu.
Zhang Fei also appears on the Kunqu stage as a hualian. Particularly famous is the scene "The Swaying Reeds", in which he ambushes, humiliates and sets free Zhou Yu.
Zhang Fei had two daughters whom both married Liu Shan, the son of Liu Bei and the second ruler of Shu, who later surrendered to Cao Wei.

Modern depictions

Zhang Fei appears in multiple video game titles under Koei's umbrella historical simulation series. These include ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', ''Dynasty Warriors'' and ''Dynasty Tactics''. In ''Dynasty Warriors'', he carries a snake spear called the "Viper Blade". He also appears in ''Kessen II'', the one title in the ''Kessen'' series to portray the Three Kingdoms era. In many of these titles, Zhang Fei, just as with other characters of the novel, is exaggerated in personality and appearance. Zhang Fei's drunkenness and brutish bearing are two such embellished traits. Zhang Fei also appears in a number of non-Koei titles, such as '' and ''Destiny of an Emperor''.
Zhang Fei is also present in CCTV's Romance of the Three Kingdoms televised adaptation, portrayed much as he appears in the novel.

Trivia

★ Legends has it, that on the night Zhang Fei was murdered by Zhang Da and Fan Qiang, his assassins found him sleeping with his eyes wide open and were about to abandon their plot, but his snoring revealed that he was indeed asleep. In modern China, when someone sleeps in caution or with half-opened eyes they are sometimes referred to as "Zhang Fei eyes".

★ Zhang Fei enjoyed working in the garden. There are some trees he planted in Chengdu that exist to this day.

References

★ San Guo Zhi, Chen Shou, , , Yue Lu Shu She, 2002, ISBN 7-80665-198-5

★ San Guo Yan Yi, Luo Guanzhong, , , Yue Lu Shu She, 1986, ISBN 7-80520-013-0

★ Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lo Kuan-chung; tr. C.H. Brewitt-Taylor, , , Tuttle Publishing, 2002, ISBN 0-8048-3467-9