Du Yu


Du Yu, courtesy name Yuankai, was a Chinese politician, military general and Confucian scholar of the state of Cao Wei during the late Three Kingdoms period and early Jin dynasty.

Life

Du Yu was from Duling County, Jingzhao Commandery, which is located northwest of present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi. He married a sister of Sima Zhao, the regent of the Cao Wei state from 255 to 263 and the father of Sima Yan, later the first emperor of the Jin dynasty.
A prolific author, Du Yu was a self-proclaimed addict of the Zuo Zhuan and wrote an influential commentary to it. He was one of the most important commanders under the Wei general Zhong Hui during the conquest of Wei's rival state, Shu. He also followed in leading an army in the Jin dynasty's conquest of the state of Eastern Wu. Du Yu managed to lay waste to the Wu army with great force in not the greatest of length of time, and received the surrender of Sun Hao, the last Wu emperor.
Du Yu was also the ancestor of the Tang dynasty poet Du Fu. Unlike his predecessors, Du Yu used the Zuo Zhuan to comment on the Chunqiu Classic. He therefore combined the two books in one, which has been the common practice since.