Sun Quan, or alias Zhong Mou, was the founder of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period in ancient China. As a brilliant politician, he showed his talent at an early age and followed his elder brother Sun Ce in fights to occupy the area east of Yangtze River when he was 14.

After Sun Ce's death, the 19 year-old Sun Quan succeeded his brother's throne and was assisted by Zhou Yu and others. He repelled Cao Cao in the north and Liu Bei in the west, while extensively recruited talents based on east of Yangtze River. In the famous Battle of Red Cliffs, Sun Quan, under the assistance of Zhou Yu, led the Eastern Wu troops in allying Liu Bei of Shu Han and defeated the Cao Wei troops in Chibi City, thus realizing the coexistence of three kingdoms. After the victory, Sun Quan fought off several times the attacks from the Cao Wei regime relying on the natural barrier of Yangtze River.

Diplomatically speaking, Sun Quan was endurable and flexible. In order to maintain the great undertaking of Wu, Sun adopted the basic guideline of allying the Shu Han to resist the Cao Wei troops. Later, in order to fight Jingzhou back, he killed Guan Yu and broke the alliance. In the battle of Yiling, he confronted Liu Bei's revenge and defeated the army. Then again, in order to fight the Cao Wei, Wu and Shu renewed their alliance. The long-time good relationship of the states effectively held down Cao Wei's invasion. After Cao Pi became the emperor of Wei, Sun Quan first claimed allegiance to the north so as to buy time to solidify the foundation of his regime, then founded the state of Wu and moved the capital to Jianye (today's Nanjing), reigning east of Yangtze River altogether for over 50 years. He then eliminated independent regimes and expanded its governance to the vast region covering present Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan provinces, reunifying the area separated ever since the end of Han Dynasty.

Sun Quan promoted the development of the southeastern region in several aspects: developing agriculture, irrigation, shipbuilding, strengthening communication with Taiwan region and diplomatic relations with surrounding countries such as India and multiple acts in tax reduction.