Xiahou Yuan

Xiahou Yuan
An illustration of Xiahou Yuan from a Qing dynasty edition of Romance of the Three Kingdoms
General of Cao Cao
Born	(Unknown)
Died	219
Names
Traditional Chinese	夏侯淵
Simplified Chinese	夏侯渊
Pinyin	Xiàhóu Yuān
Wade–Giles	Hsia-hou Yüan
Courtesy name	Miaocai (Chinese: 妙才; pinyin: Miàocái; Wade–Giles: Miao-ts'ai)
Posthumous name	Marquis Min (Chinese: 愍侯; pinyin: Mǐn Hóu; Wade–Giles: Min Hou)

Xiahou Yuan (died 219),courtesy name Miaocai, was a military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty. He is known for his exploits in northwestern China (covering present-day Gansu, Ningxia and Shaanxi provinces) in the 210s, in which he defeated Cao Cao's rivals Ma Chao and Han Sui in Liang Province and the surrounding areas, and forced several Di and Qiang tribal peoples into submission through military force. He was killed in action at the Battle of Mount Dingjun while defending Hanzhong Commandery from attacks by a rival warlord Liu Bei. Xiahou Yuan's death was highly dramatised in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which he was slain by Liu Bei's general Huang Zhong during a surprise raid.

Xiahou Yuan was from Qiao County (譙縣), Pei State (沛國), which is in present-day Bozhou, Anhui. He was a younger cousin of Xiahou Dun and a descendant of Xiahou Ying, who served under the Han dynasty's founding emperor, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao). He once helped Cao Cao shoulder the blame when Cao committed a serious offence. Cao Cao later saved him. When a famine broke out in Yan and Yu provinces, Xiahou Yuan and his family were adversely affected. He decided to sacrifice his youngest son in favour of his deceased younger brother's orphaned daughter.