Qiao Zhou

Who was Qiao Zhou?

Qiao Zhou, style name Yunnan, was an official of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He previously served under Liu Zhang, the Governor of Yi Province in the late Eastern Han Dynasty before becoming a subject of the warlord Liu Bei, who established the Shu regime in 221. In Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Qiao Zhou was depicted as an astrologer whose studies greatly aided the Shu chancellor Zhuge Liang during the Northern Expeditions against Shu's rival state Cao Wei. Qiao Zhou served in the Shu imperial court from the time when Liu Bei ascended the throne to the fall of Shu in 263. He is also known for persuading Shu's second and last ruler, Liu Shan, to surrender and submit to Wei, which brought an end to Shu.