Beginning in 195, Sun Ce created a warlord state south of the Yangzi, his brother Sun Quan developed it with energy, and for half a century Wu held sway over the middle and lower Yangzi and the far south of China. As the court became isolated from the great families of the region, its rulers lacked the resources to match their opponents in the north.

Despite this ultimate failure, the enterprise of Wu consolidated the expansion of Chinese people and culture in the South. In later centuries, as the north lay under the control and influence of alien occupation, the south of the Yangzi provided refuge for the Southern Dynasties and their Chinese tradition.