Zhuge Zhan (227 – November 263), courtesy name Siyuan, was a military general and official of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was a son of Zhuge Liang, the first Imperial Chancellor of Shu. Early life When Zhuge Zhan was 16 years old, he married a Shu princess (a daughter of the Shu emperor Liu Shan) and was appointed as a Cavalry Commandant (騎都尉). One year later, he was promoted to a General of the Household (中郎將) in the Yulin (羽林) unit of the Imperial Guards. He subsequently held the following positions in the Shu government: Palace Attendant (侍中), Supervisor of the Masters of Writing (尚書僕射) and Military Adviser-General (軍師將軍). Apart from serving as an official, Zhuge Zhan was also skilled in painting and calligraphy. Since the people of Shu deeply missed Zhuge Liang, who died in 234, they especially liked Zhuge Zhan for his talents because he reminded them of his father. Whenever the Shu government implemented a favourable policy, the people give credit to Zhuge Zhan even though it might have had nothing to do with him. As Zhuge Liang never established any formal history bureau in the Shu government, it was hard to distinguish which policies Zhuge Zhan had a role in, although it was clear that Zhuge Zhan's reputation was greater than his actual accomplishments. Pinnacle of power Zhuge Zhan's frequent promotions continued until he reached the top of the imperial administrative system – the role of the Imperial Secretariat. At the same time, Zhuge Zhan was appointed as acting Protector-General (都護) and acting General of the Guards (衛將軍). Having seen his father adopt an aggressive foreign policy towards Shu's rival state Cao Wei in the form of six military campaigns between 228 and 234, Zhuge Zhan recognised the inherent dangers of overly using military force, especially for Shu since it was far weaker than Wei in terms of military and economic power. After Jiang Wei became the de facto overall commander of the Shu army, Zhuge Zhan attempted to dissuade him from continuing to wage war against Wei but to no avail – Jiang Wei launched a total of 11 military campaigns against Wei between 240 and 262. After Jiang Wei suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Wei forces, Zhuge Zhan wrote to the Shu emperor Liu Shan, asking him to remove Jiang Wei from his