12 Facts About Sun Ba

Sun Ba, courtesy name Ziwei, was an imperial prince of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China.

Sun Ba was the fourth son of Sun Quan, the founding emperor of Eastern Wu.

Sun Ba was the fourth son of Sun Quan, a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty and became the founding emperor of the Eastern Wu state in the Three Kingdoms period.

Sun Ba's mother was Consort Xie, a concubine of Sun Quan.

Sometime in the 240s, Sun Ba became embroiled in a power struggle against his third brother, Sun He, the Crown Prince, because he wanted to seize the succession from him.

However, Sun Quan failed to make a clear distinction between his sons, so the power struggle intensified over time as Sun He and Sun Ba started vying for their father's favour and attention.

When Sun Ba Quan noticed that the rivalry between his sons had a polarising effect on his subjects, he forbade his sons from interacting with the outside world, and ordered them to focus on academic studies.

The official Yang Dao wrote a memorial to Sun Ba Quan, urging the emperor to lift the ban on his sons interacting with the outside world.

Sun Ba wanted to end the power struggle and designate a new heir apparent, so he started taking action against some of the officials involved: Wu Can was imprisoned and executed later; Gu Tan was exiled to Jiao Province; Yang Zhu was executed and his body dumped into the river; Quan Ji, Wu An and Sun Qi were executed.

Sun Ba allowed Sun Ji to serve as his personal attendant.

In 257, Sun Ba Ji was thrown into prison after he was caught stealing the emperor's horse.

Sun Ba took revenge against Sun Ji and Sun Yi by stripping them of their noble titles and exiling them and their grandmother to Wushang County.