Zhang Bao (Shu Han)

Zhang Bao (Shu Han)

Zhang Bao was the oldest son of Zhang Fei, a general who served the warlord Liu Bei during the late Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. There is little information on the historical personage, with Chen Shou's Records of Three Kingdoms merely stating that he died prematurely. Zhang Bao, however, appears as a fairly prominent character in Luo Guanzhong's historical novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Zhang Bao's first appearance within the novel was to inform Liu Bei of his father's assassination. It was during this time that he met Guan Xing, second son of Guan Yu, with whom he contested the position of leader of the van. After nearly coming to blows, the two young men were stopped by Liu Bei and were forced to swear brotherhood to each other. The two were regularly depicted together from that moment onwards.

Zhang Bao was involved in several military campaigns, including Liu Bei's disastrous invasion of Eastern Wu and Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions against Cao Wei. In the third campaign, Zhang Bao fell into a gully while pursuing the generals Guo Huai and Sun Li, and died from the resulting injuries. When Zhuge Liang heard of Zhang Bao's death, he was greatly upset, fainting and spewing blood, serving as a prelude to his own eventual death caused by overwork and poor health.

Zhang Bao had one known son, Zhang Zun who died alongside Huang Chong and Li Qiu while defending Mian Zhu from the Wei army.