Guan Yu was a general serving under the warlord
Liu Bei during the late
Eastern Han Dynasty and
Three Kingdoms era of
China. He played a significant role in the civil war that led to the collapse of the Han Dynasty and the establishment of
Shu Han, of which Liu Bei was the first emperor.
As one of the best known Chinese historical figures throughout
East Asia, Guan Yu's true life stories have largely given way to fictionalized ones, mostly found in the historical novel
Romance of the Three Kingdoms or passed down the generations, in which his deeds and moral qualities have been lionized. Guan Yu is respected as the epitome of loyalty and righteousness.
Guan Yu was deified as early as the
Sui Dynasty and is still worshipped by some Chinese people today, especially in southern China and Hong Kong and their descendants
overseas. He is a figure in
Chinese folk religion, popular
Confucianism,
Daoism, and
Chinese Buddhism, and small shrines to Guan Yu are almost ubiquitous in traditional Chinese shops and restaurants
