[3] He rose from fighting Yellow Turbans, commanded Liu Bei's navy, conquered Changsha, governed Jing Province, expanded Shu Han's territory to Cao Wei-controlled Fancheng.
[4] He rose from fighting rebels in Yellow Turban Rebellion, conquered Ba Commandery, captured multiple cities cross in the area around present-day Sichuan and Chongqing, built a solid foundation for Liu Bei's establishment of Shu Han.
Huang Zhong's fellow military comrades organized a revolution to save his life, killed Han Xuan, and surrendered to Guan Yu.
In the official historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms, the historian Chen Shou grouped them into one volume due to their similar military titles.
Some historians that study the history of the Three Kingdoms periods argue that while Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Ma Chao and Zhao Yun were appointed to the similar military rankings and were listed in the same volume in the historical texts, their military achievements are significantly differed, and people referring those five generals as "Five Tiger Generals" presume that they share the same accomplishments.
Kaiyu Luo of Sichuan University argues that while Guan Yu had led armies of over 200,000 soldiers to expand Shu Han's territory, Zhao Yun had never stepped out of Shu Han's capital city in his military career:[9] it does not make sense to presume Guan Yu and Zhao Yun had the same level of achievements or to group them together under one "Five Tiger Generals" ranking.
Researchers who support this grouping pointed out that Zhao Yun's core responsibility was to ensure the safety of Shu Han's central government, and historically this role could only be assigned to the most reliable commander.
Hsiao Shou-li, Chiang Wu-tung [zh], Chiao Tsai-pao, Chen Chun-sheng, and Su Teng-wang are called "Five Tiger Generals" of Taiwanese opera.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the five hosts of the Taiwanese television channel Sanlih E-Television, He Yi-hang, Peng Chia-chia, Yang Fan [zh], Yu Tian and Li Teng-tsai are called "Five Tiger Generals".
They jointly hosted the Sanlih E-Television Gold Medal Singing Show [zh] In the 1980s, Hong Kong television actors Felix Wong, Michael Miu, Kent Tong, Andy Lau and Tony Leung are called the "Five Tiger Generals of TVB".
The five members starred as the Five Tiger Generals of Shu in the television series K.O.3an Guo, which spoofs Romance of the Three Kingdoms in a modern school setting.