Sun He 孫和

Sun He was the younger brother of Sun Lü. When young he was loved because his mother, Lady Wang, enjoyed Sun Quan's favour, and at fourteen a palace guard was set up for him and Kan Ze, Prefect of the Palace Secretariat, was made to teach him writing and the arts. He loved learning and was humble toward men of learning, and was greatly praised. In the 1st month of the 5th year of Chiwu (242) he was established as Crown Prince, at the age of nineteen. Kan Ze became his Grand Tutor and Xue Zong his Junior Tutor, and Cai Ying, Zhang Chun, Feng Fu, Yan Wei and others attended him. Records, Wu 14 §22Records, Wu 2 §97

When the officials frequently raised matters through itemized written charges, Sun He submitted a memorial to have the practice stopped, saying that wicked men would use it as a pretext to harbour designs on others. When the Commander Liu Bao and the Cadet Ding Yan accused each other, he said, 'How many men are there among the civil and military officials who actually do their work? What blessing can come of seizing on openings to try to harm one another?' and released both of them, telling them to treat each other generously. Records, Wu 14 §23

Sun He always said that men of learning ought to cultivate scholarship and practise archery and charioteering so as to be of use in the affairs of the world, but that they were hindering their work by socializing and playing board games. When the talk at a banquet turned to board games, he said that they wasted days and wearied the spirit yet achieved nothing in the end, and that since a man's life passes like a white colt glimpsed through a crack, pleasure could be found in banquets, the zither, books, archery and charioteering. He then had the eight men attending him each write an essay to correct the habit, and showed the essay presented by the Palace Cadet Wei Yao to his guests. Many officials were imitating Cai Ying, who loved weiqi, and he used this to admonish them indirectly. Records, Wu 14 §24–26

After this a rift arose between Lady Wang and Princess Quan. When Sun Quan was confined to bed with illness, Sun He went to perform sacrifices at the ancestral temple, and Zhang Xiu, the uncle of his consort, who lived near the temple, invited Sun He to stop by his house. Princess Quan had someone spy on him and then said that the Crown Prince had not been at the temple but had been plotting at his consort's family's house, and that Lady Wang had looked pleased on seeing the sovereign lying ill. Sun Quan was enraged, Lady Wang died of grief, and Sun He, his favour diminished, feared that he would be deposed. Records, Wu 14 §27Records, Wu 5 §21

As the ambitions of Sun Ba, Prince of Lu, grew ever more blatant, Lu Xun, Wu Can, Gu Tan and others repeatedly set out the principle of distinguishing the legitimate heir from the other sons, but the slanders of Quan Ji (全寄) and Yang Zhu, Sun Ba's partisans, arose day after day; Wu Can was executed in prison and Gu Tan was exiled to Jiao Province. Sun Quan hesitated for years and finally had Sun He confined. Thereupon Zhu Ju, General of Agile Cavalry, and Qu Huang, Supervisor of the Imperial Secretariat, led the generals and officials, with mud smeared on their heads and their bodies bound, to the palace gate day after day to plead for Sun He. Records, Wu 14 §28

Sun Quan saw this from the Baijue Tower and was greatly displeased. When Sun Quan meant to depose Sun He and establish Sun Liang, Chen Zheng, Commander of the Wunan Guard, and Chen Xiang, Commander of the Five Camps, submitted a letter citing how Duke Xian of Jin had killed Shensheng and set up Xiqi, throwing the state into turmoil, and Zhu Ju and Qu Huang also remonstrated firmly. Sun Quan, in a great rage, had the clans of Chen Zheng and Chen Xiang put to death and Zhu Ju and Qu Huang given a hundred strokes of the rod, and in the 8th month of the 13th year of Chiwu (250) he deposed Sun He and moved him to Guzhang, while ordering Sun Ba, Prince of Lu, to die. Over a dozen officials who had remonstrated were executed or banished, and everyone thought it unjust. Records, Wu 14 §29Records, Wu 2 §108

In the 1st month of the 2nd year of Taiyuan (252) Sun He was enfeoffed as Prince of Nanyang and went to Changsha. In the 4th month Sun Quan died, and Zhuge Ke, the maternal uncle of Sun He's consort Lady Zhang, took power. When the consort sent the Yellow Gate eunuch Chen Qian to Jianye with a letter and also sent her regards to Zhuge Ke, Zhuge Ke had him tell her, 'I shall surely see that you fare better than others,' and these words leaked out. Also, when Zhuge Ke had the palace at Wuchang repaired with the intention of moving the capital, some among the people said that he meant to bring Sun He back. Records, Wu 14 §30Records, Wu 2 §113

In the 10th month of the 2nd year of Jianxing (253), when Zhuge Ke was executed, Sun Jun used this as a pretext to take away Sun He's seal and ribbon, moved him to Xindu and sent an envoy ordering him to die. His consort Lady Zhang, bidding Sun He farewell, said, 'In good fortune or ill we must follow each other; I will not live on alone,' and killed herself, and the whole state mourned. The biography of Sun He's concubine, Consort He, records that Sun Jun, who served Princess Quan, did this at her urging. Consort He said, 'If we all follow him in death, who will raise the orphans?' and brought up Sun Hao and his three younger brothers. Records, Wu 14 §31Records, Wu 3 §6Records, Wu 5 §35–36

When Sun Xiu took the throne, he enfeoffed Sun He's son Sun Hao as Marquis of Wucheng. When Sun Xiu died and Sun Hao took the throne, in the 9th month of the 1st year of Yuanxing (264) he posthumously named his father Sun He Emperor Wen and reburied him at the Ming Tomb, and the following year he established Wuxing Commandery to offer sacrifices in all four seasons. In the 2nd year of Baoding (267) he built a sleeping hall called the Pure Temple and sent Meng Ren and others to welcome the spirit from the Ming Tomb. Sun Hao spent the night in the open outside the Golden City to receive it and sobbed in the temple, and he held sacrifices three times in seven days, stopping only when the officials remonstrated. Records, Wu 14 §32–34Records, Wu 3 §50

In his assessment Chen Shou said that Sun Lü and Sun He both had a disposition that loved goodness and cultivated themselves according to proper standards, but that one had a short life and died young and the other did not die a natural death, which was lamentable. Records, Wu 14 §55