civil service. When he died, his family did not own much property and no funeral was held for him. His humility earned him praise at the time. The historian Fan Ye, who wrote Qiao Xuan's biography, commented on him as follows: "Qiao Xuan established his authority and was known for his sternness, but he was lacking in his personal relations with others." When commenting on Qiao Xuan spotting Cao Cao's talent, Fan Ye wrote: "Qiao Xuan had the privilege of being the first to recognise a hero." In Romance of the Three Kingdoms In the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Qiao Xuan is said to be the father of the two Qiao sisters, and is referred to as "Qiao Guolao" (喬國老; literally "State Elder Qiao"). He appears in chapter 54 in the events leading to the marriage between Liu Bei and Sun Shangxiang. The 3rd-century historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms did not state the name of the Qiao sisters' father, who was simply referred to as "Qiao Gong" (橋公; literally "Elder Qiao"). Historically, Qiao Xuan died in 183 while the Qiao sisters married Sun Ce and Zhou Yu in 200, so it was not possible that Qiao Xuan was still living when the marriages took place. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that Qiao Xuan was the "Qiao Gong" mentioned in the Records of the Three Kingdoms. The marriage between Liu Bei and Lady Sun took place sometime in 209 or 210, so Qiao Xuan's role in the events leading to the marriage is fictitious as he was already dead for over 20 years then. See also Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms Notes References Chen, Shou (3rd century). Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi). Fan, Ye (5th century). Book of the Later Han (Houhanshu). Liu, Yiqing ( 5th century). A New Account of the Tales of the World (Shishuo Xinyu). Luo, Guanzhong (14th century). Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi). Pei, Songzhi (5th century). Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi zhu). 110 births 184 deaths 2nd-century births 2nd-century deaths Han dynasty politicians from Henan Politicians from Shangqiu Political office-holders in Shandong Political office-holders in Hebei Political office-holders in Gansu Mayors of Luoyang Han dynasty generals from Henan