Dong Yun (died December 246),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Xiuzhao, was a Chinese general and politician of the state of

Shu Han Han (; 221–263), known in historiography as Shu Han ( ) or Ji Han ( "Junior Han"), or often shortened to Shu ( zh, t=蜀, p=Shǔ; Sichuanese Pinyin: ''Su'' < Middle Chinese: *''źjowk'' < Eastern Han Chinese: *''dźok''), was a Dynasties in ...

during the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...

period of China. His father, Dong He, also served as an official in Shu. Dong Yun was one of four persons who held positions equivalent to a head of government in Shu from 221 to 253; the other three were

Zhuge Liang Zhuge Liang () (181September or October 234), also commonly known by his courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman, strategist, and inventor who lived through the End of the Han dynasty, end of the Eastern Han dynasty ( 184–220) and t ...

Jiang Wan Jiang Wan (died November or December 246), courtesy name Gongyan, was a Chinese military general, politician, and regent of the state of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in the late Eastern Han dynasty, Jiang Wan initially se ...

and Fei Yi.

Family background

Dong Yun's ancestors were originally from Jiangzhou (江州; in present-day

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

), but they migrated to Zhijiang County () in Nan Commandery (), which is present-day Zhijiang, Hubei, and designated Zhijiang as their ancestral home. Dong Yun's father, Dong He, previously served as an official under Liu Zhang, the Governor of

Yi Province Yizhou (益州), Yi Province or Yi Prefecture, was a ''Zhou (country subdivision), zhou'' (province) of ancient China. Its capital city was Chengdu.de Crespigny, p. 256. During the Han dynasty, it included the commanderies Hanzhong Commandery, Han ...

(covering present-day

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

and

), during the late

Eastern Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

before switching allegiance to

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a China, Chinese warlord in the late Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding Emperor of China, emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of ...

, the founding emperor of the state of Shu during the

period.

As an attendant to the crown prince

In 221, after

named his son Liu Shan as his

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

, he appointed Dong Yun as an attendant to the newly anointed heir apparent.

Earning praise from Zhuge Liang

After Liu Shan became emperor of Shu in 223 following his father's death, he appointed Dong Yun as a Gentleman of the Yellow Gate (). In 227,

, the Imperial Chancellor of Shu, mobilised military forces from throughout Shu in preparation for a large-scale campaign against Shu's rival state Wei in the following year. As the troops gathered at the staging area in Hanzhong Commandery, Zhuge Liang was worried that Liu Shan was still young and not mature enough to make good judgments. He thus decided to put Dong Yun in charge of internal affairs in the Shu capital

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

because he believed that Dong Yun would perform his duties in a professional and impartial manner. In his '' Chu Shi Biao'' (literally "

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

on the case to go to war"), Zhuge Liang named Dong Yun, Fei Yi and Guo Youzhi as examples of trustworthy, loyal and competent officials who could provide good advice and assist Liu Shan in governing Shu more effectively.

As a Palace Attendant

Not long later,

nominated Dong Yun to serve as a Palace Attendant (), commissioned him as a General of the Household () and put him in command of the ''huben'' division of the imperial guards. As his colleague Guo Youzhi, who also held the position of a Palace Attendant, tended to be mild-tempered and non-confrontational when dealing with people, the burden of advising the emperor Liu Shan and speaking up on difficult issues largely rested on Dong Yun's shoulders. Dong Yun performed his duties well and did his best to plan ahead and preempt problems that could possibly arise.

Objecting to Liu Shan's plan to expand his harem

When Liu Shan wanted to have more concubines, Dong Yun pointed out that his imperial harem was already full and reminded him that according to historical precedent a ruler should have no more than 12 women in his harem. He also firmly refused to carry out the emperor's order to search for more women to join the harem. Liu Shan, unable to get what he wanted, resented and feared Dong Yun.

Rejecting a peerage

, the Prefect of the Masters of Writing () and Inspector of

(), once wrote a

to Liu Shan to express his wish to step down and let Fei Yi and Dong Yun succeed him. He also wrote: "(Dong) Yun has served in the palace for many years and done his best to support and uphold the dynasty. He should be awarded a peerage to honour him for his contributions." However, Dong Yun declined to accept a peerage.

Keeping Huang Hao in check

As Liu Shan grew older, he started to favour the palace eunuch Huang Hao, who actively fawned on the emperor in a concerted attempt to rise to higher positions and gain greater power in the Shu government. When Dong Yun learnt about this, he openly criticised the emperor for showing favouritism towards Huang Hao and, at the same time, severely reprimanded the eunuch for his behaviour. Huang Hao feared Dong Yun so he did not dare to cause any trouble; he also never made it to any position higher than that of an Assistant of the Yellow Gate () while Dong Yun was still alive.

Treating his colleagues with respect

On one occasion, when Dong Yun was about to leave his residence for a casual hang-out with his friends Fei Yi, Hu Ji and others, he heard that a junior colleague, Dong Hui (), had come to visit and consult him. After seeing that Dong Yun already had an appointment and was about to board the carriage, Dong Hui said he would come back again another time and prepared to leave. Dong Yun stopped him and said: "I am just hanging out with my friends. I think you made a trip here to share some brilliant ideas with me. It would be rude of me to ignore you just so that i can go out with my friends." He then got off the carriage. Fei Yi and the others also cancelled their hang-out. Dong Yun earned praise for his courteous and respectful attitude towards his colleagues and people of talent.

As Prefect of the Masters of Writing

Dong Yun was given the additional appointment of General Who Assists the State () in 243. In the following year, he was promoted to the position of Prefect of the Masters of Writing () while concurrently holding the appointment of a Palace Attendant (). He also served as a deputy to Fei Yi, who held the position of General-in-Chief ().

Death and legacy

Dong Yun died in 246. At the time, the people of Shu named

, Fei Yi and Dong Yun as the four heroic

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

s of their state. After Dong Yun's death, Chen Zhi, whom the Shu emperor Liu Shan favoured, replaced him as a Palace Attendant (). Chen Zhi then formed an alliance with the eunuch Huang Hao to dominate the political scene in Shu. Both of them shared power until Chen Zhi died in 258, leaving Huang Hao solely in control. Since Chen Zhi became one of his most favoured officials, Liu Shan gradually began to resent Dong Yun and see him as "arrogant and disrespectful". Chen Zhi and Huang Hao also often spoke ill of Dong Yun in front of Liu Shan and make the emperor hate Dong Yun even more. Dong Yun's death marked the beginning of Huang Hao's rise to power and a trend of increasing corruption in the Shu government. The people of Shu longed to return to the times when Dong Yun was in power.

Descendants

Dong Yun's grandson, Dong Hong (), served as the Administrator of Baxi Commandery during the Jin dynasty.

Appraisal

Chen Shou Chen Shou ( zh , t = 陳壽 ; 233–297), courtesy name Chengzuo (), was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer who lived during the Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty of China. Chen Shou is best known for his most celebrated work, the ...

, who wrote Dong Yun's biography in the ''

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' is a Chinese official history written by Chen Shou in the late 3rd century CE, covering the end of the Han dynasty (220 CE) and the subsequent Three Kingdoms period (220–280 CE). It is regard ...

'' (''Sanguozhi''), appraised Dong Yun as follows: "Dong Yun rectified his lord when he was in the wrong and righteousness was manifested in his countenance... Along with Dong He, Liu Ba, Ma Liang and Chen Zhen, he was one of the best officials in Shu."(評曰： ... 董允匡主，義形于色， ... 皆蜀臣之良矣。) ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 39.

Notes

References

* Chen, Shou (3rd century). ''

'' (''Sanguozhi''). * * Pei, Songzhi (5th century). ''

Annotated Records of the Three Kingdoms ''Annotated Records of the Three Kingdoms'' () by Pei Songzhi (372–451) is an annotation completed in the 5th century of the 3rd century historical text ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', compiled by Chen Shou. After the fall of the Eastern Jin ...

'' (''Sanguozhi zhu''). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dong, Yun Year of birth unknown 246 deaths Politicians from Hubei Political office-holders in Sichuan Shu Han generals Shu Han government officials Shu Han regents