Liu Shan

Liu Chan is the son of Liu Bei. During the Battle of Chang Ban, Liu Chan was left behind as the Shu forces fled Cao Cao's assault, but was saved by the valiant efforts of Zhao Yun. After his father's death, he became Emperor of Shu under the guidance of Zhuge Liang. After Zhuge Liang's death, he became corrupt and weak, and as a result, Shu was conquered by Wei.

To this day his childhood name, A Dou, is an idiom for an incompetent person.

Dynasty Warriors
During the majority of the Dynasty Warriors series, Liu Chan appears as an infant during the Battle of Chang Ban as a rare powerup. In Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends, he is portrayed as an effeminate and cowardly monarch.

In Dynasty Warriors 5, he takes over the Shu kingdom after Liu Bei's death. He is left to defend Shu's land after an invasion from Wu at Bai Di Castle. Furthermore, Zhuge Liang is busy at Wu Zhang Plains and is unable to help Liu Chan. Only Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, Jiang Wei and Xing Cai remain to guard him. Liu Chan is depicted as gentle, weak and untrained. Lovestruck by the maiden, he sorely wishes for Xing Cai to stay behind and wishes he had Guan Ping's strength so he can properly protect her. After the battle, however, he vows to grow stronger to protect his people. Xing Cai's ending scene shows Liu Chan struggling to train with her.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, Liu Chan can either follow his father's footsteps or appear as a random secondary officer. He has one of the lowest stats in the series, coming in at a mere total of 77 points.

Voice Actors

 * Moriya Endo - Dynasty Warriors series (Japanese)
 * Shinichirō Ōta - Romance of the Three Kingdoms drama CD series

Quotes

 * "I must defend my father's kingdom. Noble spirits, lend me your strength!"

Historical Information
Liu Shan, (commonly mispronounced as Liu Chan), was the second and last emperor of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms era of China. As he ascended the throne at the young age of sixteen, Liu Shan was entrusted to the care of a group of veteran ministers, including the Chancellor Zhuge Liang and Imperial Secretary Li Yan. During Liu Shan's reign, many campaigns were led against Cao Wei, primarily by Zhuge Liang and his successor Jiang Wei, but to little avail. Liu Shan eventually surrendered to Cao 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" (阿斗), Liu Shan was commonly perceived as an incapable, even retarded ruler. He was also accused of indulging in pleasures while neglecting state affairs. Some critics, however, believe that Liu Shan, like his father, 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 Han 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 Chinese 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". Many 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, Liu Shan, contrary to tradition, had no official historian at his court, and therefore many of the events during his reign were unrecorded, causing Chen Shou to be unable to provide more details about Liu Shan's reign in his history.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The novel generally portrays Liu Shan as an incapable ruler who was easily swayed by words, especially those from his favorite eunuch, Huang Hao. Two famous stories from the novel involving Liu Shan are: