Taizhou, Jiangsu
Lü Dai was from Hailing County (), Guangling Commandery (), which is in present-day Taizhou, Jiangsu. He started his career in the late Eastern Han dynasty as a low-level bureaucrat in the county and commandery offices. When chaos broke out throughout China in the 180s and 190s, he fled south to the Jiangdong (or Wu) region for shelter.