Guan Yu

In the Romance of Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu (關羽, his courtesy name was 雲長 and 長生) was probably one of the most respected men in the ancient Three Kingdoms of China. He was affiliated with the Kingdom of Shu as the leader of the Five Tiger Generals. His is posthumously called Guan Gong (關公 lit. Lord Guan) or Guan Di (關帝 lit. Emperor Guan though he never ruled).

He was sworn blood brothers with Zhang Fei and Lord Liu Bei. Guan Yu was referred to as "beautiful beard" (美髯公) because of his long, flowing beard and it was said that he was a match for 10,000 men.

Guan was given Lu Bu's horse "Red Hare" by Lord Cao Cao of the Wei Kingdom as a prize for his amazing fighting skills.

Guan Yu gained fame for his attack on Fan. Thanks to flooding on the camoaign he was able to defeat Yue Jin's 7 armies and start a strong seige on Fan castle against Cao Ren.

Guan Yu was also very arrogant and lost his life to it. He personally insulted Wu and raided Wu supply depots. It was due to his rash actions that Wu attack JingZhou (荊州) and executed Guan Yu.

Memories

There are numerous temples dedicated to Guan Yu, depicted with a red face and long beard, holding the Guan Dao, a sword with long handle which was named after him. He is also red-faced in Chinese operas.

In Hong Kong, a shrine for Guan Gong is located in each police station. Most Chinese policemen pay respect to him if not worship him. Members of the Triad worship him too. People in jiang hu respects him because he symbolizes the Chinese concept of "Yi Qi", which is a virtue these people seek among themselves. He is often referred to as "Yi Gor" (second brother) for he was second to Liu Bei in their blood brotherhood.