thumb|The two Qiaos, as painted by [[Gai Qi, 1799]]
The Two Qiaos of Jiangdong () were two sisters of the Qiao family who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. In the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the two Qiaos were sisters of exceptional beauty who were the pivot to the Battle of Chibi, one of the most impactful battles of the pre-Three Kingdoms period. Cao Cao, Chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, was depicted in the novel to be interested in having the two sisters, to the point that his intentions were evident in his son's poem "Ode to the Bronze Sparrow Platform" (銅雀臺賦); consequently leading Zhou Yu of Jiangdong to go to war with Cao Cao.
In historical records
The Qiao sisters' names were not recorded in history, so in later times they are simply referred to as Da Qiao (literally "older Qiao") and Xiao Qiao (literally "younger Qiao"). They were from Wan County (皖縣), Lujiang Commandery (廬江郡), which is in present-day Anqing, Anhui. Da Qiao married the warlord Sun Ce, who established the foundation of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. Xiao Qiao married Zhou Yu, a general who served under Sun Ce and later, under his successor, Sun Quan. Sun Ce jokingly told Zhou Yu: "Although Elder Qiao's daughters are exceptionally beautiful, with us as their husbands, it should be a happy enough match."
Zhou Yu had two sons and a daughter, Zhou Xun, Zhou Yin and Zhou Fei (Lady Zhou). It is unknown if his three children were born to Xiao Qiao.
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The Qiao sisters are featured as characters in the 14th-century historical novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which romanticises the historical events before and during the Three Kingdoms period. In the novel, the Chinese character for "Qiao" in their names, 橋/桥, is replaced with 喬/乔.
In the novel, the Qiao sisters are the daughters of a certain Qiao Guolao (喬國老; literally "State Elder Qiao"), possibly referring to Qiao Xuan. Zhou Yu's biography in the third-century historical text, Records of the Three Kingdoms, did not mention the name of the Qiao sisters' father, who was simply referred to as Qiao Gong (橋公; literally "Elder Qiao" or "Lord Qiao"). Historically, Qiao Xuan died in 184, while the Qiao sisters married Sun Ce and Zhou Yu around 199,
See also
- Eastern Wu family trees#Sun Ce
- Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms
References
- Chen, Shou (3rd century). Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi).
- Fan, Ye (5th century). Book of the Later Han (Houhanshu).
- Luo, Guanzhong (14th century). Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi).
- Pei, Songzhi (5th century). Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi zhu).