# The Three Visits

The Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage (Chinese: 三顧茅廬) refers to the event in the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 2nd century AD) when the future Shu Han emperor Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang’s residence three times to ask him for help. The Zizhi Tongjian recorded that the meeting(s) took place in 207. The event is briefly mentioned in the historical Records of the Three Kingdoms and fictionalized in more detail in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

## Historical accounts

The Records of the Three Kingdoms recorded in just one sentence that Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang three times and met him. The Zizhi Tongjian recorded that the meeting(s) took place in 207. Chen Shou also mentions the three visits in his biographical sketch of Zhuge Liang appended to the memoirs Chen Shou compiled.
During the third visit, Zhuge Liang presented the Longzhong Plan to Liu Bei. Liu Bei accepted the plan, which solidified Zhuge Liang as the military strategist for Liu Bei.

### Weilüe and Jiuzhou Chunqiu accounts

The Weilüe and Jiuzhou Chunqiu (九州春秋), however, provide a completely different account of how Liu Bei met Zhuge Liang. It mentioned that Liu Bei was at Fancheng (樊城; present-day Fancheng District, Xiangyang, Hubei) at the time, and that Cao Cao had just pacified northern China and was preparing to attack Jing Province. Zhuge Liang went to Fancheng to meet Liu Bei, who treated him like any other ordinary guest because he did not know Zhuge Liang before that, and thought that he was just a typical young scholar. When all the other guests left after the meeting, Zhuge Liang stayed behind. Liu Bei did not ask him if he had something to say, and started playing with a yak tail garment one of the guests had gifted him. Zhuge Liang said, "I heard that you, General, have great ambitions, yet all I see is you playing with that." When Liu Bei heard that, he sensed that Zhuge Liang was no ordinary person so he threw aside the gift and said he was only playing with it as a hobby. Zhuge Liang then asked him if he and Liu Biao could resist an invasion by Cao Cao. When Liu Bei replied that neither him nor Liu Biao was capable of resisting Cao Cao and that he was at a loss on what to do, Zhuge Liang proposed a plan for him. He pointed out that there were large numbers of refugees who migrated south to Jing Province to escape from the chaos in central and northern China, and suggested to Liu Bei to have them registered as new residents so that the Jing Province administration could collect taxes from them and draft them into military service. Liu Bei heeded Zhuge Liang's advice and managed to increase the strength of his forces. From then on, he saw Zhuge Liang as a great talent and started treating him like an honoured guest.
Pei Songzhi commented that the Weilüe and Jiuzhou Chunqiu accounts contradict Zhuge Liang's own statement in the Chu Shi Biao, which says: "(Liu Bei) visited me thrice in the thatched cottage, (and) consulted me on the affairs of our time." This is contradicted in the later Annotations by Pei Songzhi which claim Zhuge Liang visited him first.
Yi Zhongtian suggested that both the records in Sanguozhi and Weilüe could be true. The chronological order might be: Zhuge Liang approached Liu Bei first to demonstrate his wisdom. Liu Bei, having recognised Zhuge Liang's talent, personally visited him three times to have further discussions.$^{:ch.16}$

## In Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms gives a romanticised account, spanning two chapters, of how Liu Bei met Zhuge Liang. After Xu Shu recommends Zhuge Liang to him, Liu Bei travels to Longzhong with his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to find Zhuge Liang. When they reach Zhuge Liang's house (described as a "thatched cottage" 茅廬), a servant tells them that his master is out. Liu Bei then asks the servant to pass a message to Zhuge Liang that Liu Bei came to find him. Later during winter, Liu Bei and his sworn brothers brave heavy snowfall and travel to Longzhong again. Along the way, they meet Zhuge Liang's friends. This time, the servant leads them to his "master", who turns out to be Zhuge Liang's younger brother, Zhuge Jin. Just as they are about to leave, Liu Bei sees an older man approaching and thinks he is Zhuge Liang, but the man introduces himself as Huang Chengyan, Zhuge Liang's father-in-law. When spring arrives, Liu Bei decides to visit Zhuge Liang again, much to the annoyance of his sworn brothers. On this third occasion, Zhuge Liang is at home but is asleep. Liu Bei waits patiently for hours until Zhuge Liang wakes up.

## Cultural influences
### Influence on Chinese language

It became a complementary idiom in Chinese language, a metaphor with the meaning or "sincerely and repeatedly making a request to a worthy person".

### Other

The event has been adapted into other works, such as plays and portrayed in works of visual art by artists such as Dai Jin.