He once helped Zhou Yu to win important battles, but after Zhou Yu’s malicious attempts on him, Zhuge Liang finally gave Zhou Yu a taste of his own medicine. In contrast, Zhuge Liang was a modest, generous, and hardworking man with the gift of foresight. Shortly before his death, Zhou Yu lamented, “Why does Zhuge Liang have to exist while I am alive?” This statement encapsulated Zhou Yu’s petty and jealous nature, where there can only be one winner in his world. Zhou Yu was so furious that he died not long after. In the third incident, Zhou Yu tried to recapture Jing Province so as to spite Zhuge Liang, but Zhuge Liang saw through him and even humiliated him badly. Zhou Yu was so angry that he fainted on the spot. As Zhou Yu watched Liu Bei escape, Liu Bei’s soldiers taunted him for his double loss. Zhou Yu and his troops pursued Liu Bei, but were defeated by Liu Bei’s army. However, Zhuge Liang cunningly foiled Zhou Yu’s plans, and helped Liu Bei take Sun Quan’s sister with him. The second time Zhuge Liang outsmarted Zhou Yu was when Zhou Yu set a trap to kill Liu Bei, by enticing Liu Bei to come to Jiangdong and marry Sun Quan’s sister. When he discovered he had been tricked by Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu had such a fit of anger that his battle wounds reopened. Seizing the opportunity, Zhuge Liang sent Liu Bei’s general Zhang Fei ( 张飞 ) to impersonate the Cao troops and intimidate Zhou Yu, thereby securing the province for Liu Bei. Confident that he could secure Jing Province, Zhou Yu boasted, “If I can’t secure the province, I’ll let Liu Bei have it.”īut during the battle for the province, Zhou Yu was injured by an arrow and eventually lost to Cao Cao’s army. The two lords Sun Quan and Liu Bei once vied for Jing Province, a strategic piece of land occupied by Cao Cao’s ( 曹操 ) army. Zhou Yu often sought ways to sabotage Zhuge Liang, but his plans never succeeded. He was insanely resentful of the gifted martial strategist Zhuge Liang, who served under the rival warlord Liu Bei ( 刘备 ). But Zhou had a fatal weakness, and that was his jealous and petty nature.

Zhou Yu was a young, talented, and ambitious general who served Sun Quan ( 孙权 ), one of the three lords during the Three Kingdoms Period. One of the most memorable stories in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms is that of Zhou Yu ( 周瑜 ) being outsmarted three times by the gifted martial strategist Zhuge Liang ( 诸葛亮 ). The Jealous Zhou Yu ( 周瑜 ) is Outsmarted Three Times Jealousy not only harms others but also harms oneself, and there are many historical examples to make people think twice about being jealous. Jealousy, in contrast, was considered a reprehensible trait. One of these virtues is kindness and generosity, which the ancient Chinese regarded as most important. China’s 5,000-year-old history is enriched with thousands of stories, many illustrative of the values and virtues inherent to authentic traditional Chinese culture.

Yu bin jealous