Zhang Chunhua

Zhang Chunhua (onyomi: Chō Shunka) is Sima Yi's wife and the mother of Sima Shi and Sima Zhao. She was said to have been a virtuous and resourceful woman who was not loved by her husband throughout their marriage. Depending on the many interpretations of historical records, she intimidated her husband by either outwitting him with her scholarly knowledge or by unnerving him with her cold and violent nature.

Prior to her playable Dynasty Warriors appearance, she ranked tenth place in Famitsu's first most wanted playable character poll and was the top fan voted name for the female model in Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires's first edit character contest. She ranked twenty-ninth place in Gamecity's Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends popularity poll. The latest poll for the eighth installment puts her in fifty-ninth. The character poll for overseas fans puts her in seventh place for the Jin division.

Role in Games
"Mother, you are strong! No wonder Father is afraid of you!"
 * ―Sima Zhao; Dynasty Warriors 8

Dynasty Warriors
Zhang Chunhua supports her husband during his rise to power by keeping a close eye on him and their sons. She joins her family in subjugating the remaining Shu forces at Wuzhang Plains before defeating Gongsun Yuan at Liaodong. When Cao Shuang disgraces them with a predictable defeat at Mt. Xingshi, she and her family slay him when he is unrepentant and continues wasting resources. After killing Cao Shuang, she disappears at the same time as Sima Yi in the story following his retirement.

In Jin's hypothetical story route, if all of Shu's officers are defeated before Liu Shan is dealt with, she and her spouse suppress Zhong Hui's rebellion at Luoyang due to the absence of their sons. Seeing that the world full of imbeciles would not let him retire so easily, Sima Yi will opt to come out of retirement, and she joins him in creating a bridge with their fleet during the final battle against Jiang Wei and the Coalition of Wu and Shu's remaining forces.

During Wu's hypothetical story at Runan, she joins forces with Wang Yuanji in an attempt to subdue the Wu officers. She also accompanies her husband and Li Dian in celebrating the peace Sun Quan achieved together with all Three Kingdoms co-existing.

In the Xtreme Legends expansion, Zhang Chunhua appears in Jin and Wei's new stages. In Jin's scenario, she is included among the besieged at Luoyang against Cao Shuang. Quickly rebounding from the attack, she calls Jia Chong to cut off Cao Shuang's escape route. She is also among one of the "beauties" that the Wei officers encounter in their kingdom's final stage. Mistaking them the officers for salesmen, she and Sima Shi attempt to drive them out.

Dynasty Warriors: Unleashed has Zhang Chunhua appear in Chencang as reinforcements for Hao Zhao. She will continuously regenerate herself unless Hao Zhao is defeated in battle.

Zhang Chunhua's bond story focuses on her marital troubles with Sima Yi. Tired of playing second fiddle to her husband's mistresses, she decides to pay him a visit only to be turned away due to his sudden illness. She easily sees through his deception and retaliates by initiating a hunger strike with her sons. Although this earns her a forced apology from Sima Yi, Zhang Chunhua cannot help but mourn the years she wasted in loving him. She is nonetheless grateful to the player for putting up with her and values their friendship more than ever.

Her story in Dynasty Warriors 9 heavily mirrors that of her previous roles, but she begins during Cao Pi's rise to emperor instead. After assisting in replacing the Han Dynasty with the Wei Empire, she participates in the new emperor's five pronged attack on Shu and the battles at Shiting and Guangling against Wu. After Cao Pi's demise, she joins her husband in defending Wei's western borders from Zhuge Liang's northern campaign with stopping Zhuge Liang at Tianshui and then Wuzhang Plains. Shortly after Wei's victory at Wuzhang Plains, the Sleeping Dragon passes away from illness, but Wei Emperor Cao Rui soon passes away as well following Sima Yi and his family squelching a rebellion in Liaodong by Gongsun Yuan.

Her husband's rise to power only makes Cao Shuang jealous, and he abuses his position to launch a futile campaign against Shu at Mt. Xingshi, invoking a violent reaction from the Sima family. After dealing with Cao Shuang and placing their own puppet Emperor on the Wei throne in Cao Mao, Zhang Chunhua invites Wang Yuanji over for a private meeting, where she teaches her how to make the same meat buns that her family loves so much.

She later passes away to natural causes not long after Cao Shuang's demise and is remembered by both her husband and Guo Huai.

Warriors Orochi
In Warriors Orochi 4, Zhang Chunhua was a part of her husband's section of Wei's forces, resulting in her fighting alongside the Date and the Oda. When Liu Bei attacks them, she attempts to lead the reserve troops to salvage the loss of their ambush but is defeated when Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu's forces arrive. After the battle, she joins her husband and the Date in surrendering to Liu Bei's army.

After her surrender, she moves to protect Naotora and Yukimura from her children's attack, and eventually succeeds in bringing them over to their side. She later accompanies Lu Meng and Nene to Sekigahara, having found that Mitsunari and Ieyasu's forces have both clashed mysteriously, dragging along Zhang Chunhua's children, Wu forces along with Cao Pi and Liu Bei's armies. Once they learn that the culprit was the demons who conjured a mystical fog that brainwashed their allies, Zhang Chunhua later helps defeat Kiyomori for the trouble he caused.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
In her debut in the eleventh title, her in-game biography and portrait are modeled after stories regarding her charming wit and maternal love. The twelfth title instead focuses on the alternate perception of her in popular culture, in which Zhang Chunhua is infamously regarded as one of the few female murderers of the era. In either title, she excels with strategies and domestic affairs. However, she virtually has no ability for war like most of the non-combatant women in the series. In the thirteenth title her portrayal is focused in her scholarly abilities, in which her INT and GOV are specially high, while her WAR and LDR are still sufficient to make her an capable but average commander.

100man-nin no Sangokushi has her star in a character episode event after Sima Yi falls from the shock of Zhuge Liang's last tactic. A fussy and bossy wife, Zhang Chunhua seeks to care for him. When she visits his quarters, she mistakes the maid within it as her husband's mistress and subdues her on the spot. The maid informs her that her master has returned to duties and is within his office. Sima Yi has recovered before her visit so he insults her for being senile. She throws a tantrum, beats him in a duel, and expects an apology from him by going on a hunger strike.

When her sons send their sisters and wives to check on her, she mistakes their concern as sympathy for her cause and forces them to join her. The trio become delirious from hunger, but the mother physically punishes her sons for trying to sneak in food from their wives. Before she collapses from exhaustion, Zhang Chunhua crawls toward Sima Yi's offices to pressure him for an apology. She beats Sima Fu along the way, mistaking him for her husband due to their facial similarities. An exasperated Sima Yi finds her during her lurch and patronizes her for dragging his sons into her charade. He apologizes through gritted teeth after he loses another duel against her. Pleased by his reluctant submission to her, she returns to her sons to nurse them back to health.

Development
Omega Force developers are aware of the many stories depicting her as a "demonic wife", but Akihiro Suzuki remarks that they wanted to make her a "frightening, wise mother with good intentions". She was purposely designed to resemble Sima Zhao, since Sima Shi already has physical traits matching with Sima Yi. Her default color scheme is meant to represent quiet maternity and kindness.

Personality
Always seen with a soft smile on her face, Zhang Chunhua is a wise and capable mother. Yet she shows signs of her wickedly cryptic side when she is not pleased, causing even her own family to fear offending her. Her criticism is blunt to help bring out the other party's true potential.

Zhang Chunhua sees past Sima Yi's facade enough for him to be afraid of her. Despite being the seemingly dominant one in their relationship, her relationship with her husband is harmonious and she does care for him. The wife is content to step aside for her husband, but will occasionally force him to make decisions he would normally reject. She sternly addresses Sima Yi as "My Lord" or "Husband" (旦那様, Danna-sama). Zhang Chunhua deems Wang Yuanji to be more responsible than either of her sons, often giving the younger lady tips on how to discipline Sima Zhao.

Her Warriors Orochi appearance has her get along with Yueying, who mirrors her due to their devotion to their husbands and having to frequently make meatbuns for their allies, and Aya, whose tactics in teaching her subordinates intrigue Zhang Chunhua to try and use such methods on her own children.

Voice Actors

 * Cindy Robinson - Dynasty Warriors 8, Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The Legend of Cao Cao (English-uncredited)
 * Kyla Garcia - Dynasty Warriors 9 (English)
 * Xiao Lian Sha - Dynasty Warriors 9 (Chinese)
 * Kim Doyeong - Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The Legend of Cao Cao (Korean)
 * Masumi Asano - Dynasty Warriors 8~9, Warriors Orochi 4 (Japanese)
 * Yūko Sasamoto - Youkai Sangokushi (Japanese)
 * Natsue Sasamoto - Sangokushi Hadou (Japanese)

Quotes

 * See also: Zhang Chunhua/Quotes


 * "Lady Zhang Chunhua, do you have a moment? It's about Master Zhao..."
 * "Is that idiot son of mine causing you grief, Lady Yuanji? I'll be sure to punish him, so please don't give up on him."
 * "Oh no, it isn't that bad..."
 * "You must not go easy on him. It is vital to take a strong stance from the beginning."
 * "...Y-Yes, my lady."
 * Wang Yuanji and Zhang Chunhua; Dynasty Warriors 8


 * "Oh, that husband of mine. He can't even wipe his bottom by himself without me around. So here I am, my lovely!"
 * "Ch-Chunhua!? How many times have I told you not to barge into my work? I got over the flu weeks before you showed up. And you wonder why I call you old hag!"
 * "How dare you! I'll have you know I'm ten years younger than you!"
 * Zhang Chunhua and Sima Yi; 100man-nin no Sangokushi

Gameplay

 * See also: Zhang Chunhua/Movesets

Weapons

 * See also: Zhang Chunhua‎‎/Weapons

Dynasty Warriors 8
Zhang Chunhua‎‎ uses the wired gloves as her default weapon in this title.

Historical Information
Zhang Chunhua was born in Henei Commandery, Pinggao District. Her father was the Prefect of Suyi, Zhang Wang, and her mother was a daughter of the Shan family sharing the same roots as Shan Tao. It's unknown when she was married to her husband. During their marriage, she personally gave birth to Sima Shi, Sima Zhao, Sima Gan, and Princess Nanyang.

In 201, when Zhang Chunhua was thirteen, Sima Yi feigned illness to initially avoid serving Cao Cao. According to the Book of Jin, she helped maintain his charade by killing one of their maids who saw him trying to dry his books under the sun. She allegedly feared her family's future was jeopardized if Cao Cao were to learn the truth. Once Sima Yi learned of his wife's deeds, he apparently became wary of her. Since this story only appears in the Book of Jin, however, skeptics reason that it may have been a fictional story devised by Fang Xuanling rather than truth. Other records mention instead that she lost her husband's favor soon after he swore fealty to Cao Cao and eloped with one of his concubines, Lady Bai.

One day, Sima Yi fell ill and Zhang Chunhua paid him a visit. When Sima Yi heard his wife came to see him, he flew into a blind rage, "What a foolish woman! Her visit means nothing to me!" Zhang Chunhua was upset and humiliated when she learned of his outburst and starved herself in protest to her husband's tantrum. Her sons learned of her acts and sought to save her, eventually pleading to their father to apologize. After he did, he insisted to her from outside her room, "I didn't do it for you, you old hag. I did it so my adorable sons would no longer need to suffer on your behalf." She resumed her normal eating habits after the incident.

Zhang Chunhua died due to illness when she was 59 years old. After her death, Sima Yi pretended to mourn her –claiming to have been "consumed with misery and grief"– in order to hide his plot to seize power from Cao Shuang. She was buried in Luoyang, and her posthumous title as empress was bestowed in her memory by Sima Yan. Her posthumous title literally states that she was a "calm, gentle, and modest person".

Gallery
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