Liu Shan

Liu Shan, (commonly mispronounced as Liu Chan), (207–271) was the second and last emperor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. As he ascended the throne at the age of 16, Liu Shan was entrusted to the care of the Chancellor Zhuge Liang and Imperial Secretariat Li Yan. During Liu Shan's reign, many campaigns were led against the rival state of Cao Wei, primarily by Zhuge Liang and his successor Jiang Wei, but to little avail. Liu Shan eventually surrendered to Wei in 263 after Deng Ai led a surprise attack on the Shu capital Chengdu. He was quickly relocated to Luoyang, capital of Wei, and enfeoffed as Duke Anle. There he enjoyed his last years peacefully before dying, most probably of natural causes, in 271.

Widely known by his infant name "A'dou" or "E'dou" (阿斗 Ā Dǒu), Liu Shan was commonly perceived as an incapable, even mentally handicapped ruler. He was also accused of indulging in pleasures while neglecting state affairs. Some critics, however, believe that Liu Shan, like his father Liu Bei, had excellent people management skills, being able to balance the interests of the two major factions in his court, headed respectively by Zhuge Liang and Li Yan. These critics also praise Liu Shan for feigning incompetence in the most ingenious and natural way after the fall of Shu so as to avoid personal harm. Nevertheless, the name "A'dou" is today still commonly used to describe incapable people who would not achieve anything even with significant assistance.

The given name of Liu Shan, when combined with that of Liu Feng, whom Liu Bei adopted before the birth of Liu Shan, would become "fengshan" (封禪), meaning "to ascend the throne in a ceremony". Scholars like Yi Zhongtian believe that this is an implication of Liu Bei's ambition to become the emperor, even long before the abdication of Emperor Xian. This undermines Liu Bei's claim that he was forced to declare himself emperor so as to carry on the lineage of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

As Chen Shou, the author of Records of Three Kingdoms, noted, contrary to tradition, Zhuge Liang banned official historians at Liu Shan's court, and after Zhuge's death, it appeared Liu did not revive that post. Therefore many of the events during his reign were unrecorded, causing limited details about Liu Shan's reign in historic records.