Gongsun Zan (公孫瓚 gong1 sun1 zan4), courtesy name Bogui, was a warlord of northern China active toward the end of the second century AD.

He was commander of a cavalry force and served on the northern and eastern frontiers of the Han Dynasty empire fighting against various non-Chinese peoples. In 191, Gongsun enlisted as part of the coalition against Dong Zhuo, the nobleman who had seized power in Luoyang and held the emperor hostage, but used the opportunity to enlarge his territories. In late 191, Gongsun Zan appointed the later great Shu general, Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun later joined another member of the attack on Dong Zhuo, Liu Bei. Throughout the 190s he fought a series of battles with the warlord Yuan Shao for control of north China, starting with the Battle of Jieqiao. He was defeated by Yuan in 199 and committed suicide. Han commanderies and kingdoms AD 2. ... Dong Zhuo (? – 192) was a warlord during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms Period in ancient China. ... Luoyang (Simplified Chinese: 洛阳; Traditional Chinese: 洛陽; pinyin: ) is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province, Peoples Republic of China. ... Japanese silk painting of Zhao Yun, from Edo period. ... Liu Bei (161 – 223), courtesy name Xuande, was a powerful warlord and the founding emperor of the Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms era in ancient China. ... Yuan Shao (? – 202) was a major warlord occupying the north of ancient China during the massive civil war towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms era. ... The Battle of Jie Bridge (Chinese: 界橋之戰, pinyin: Jièqiáo zhi zhàn) was a military engagement fought between Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan in 191, at the beginning of the civil wars in China leading up to the fall of the Han Dynasty. ...

Gongsun Zan was known as the 'General of Baima' and renowned for his brigade of elite cavalry from Baima, made up completely of horses of pure white (Bai Ma means white horse in Chinese). It seems he hit on the tactic of using all white horses in battle when he learned the barbarians he was then fighting against considered the animals sacred and would run from them instead of fighting.

He had one son, Gongsun Xu. In the Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Gongsun Xu (公孫續) was an officer under Gongsun Zan and also Zans son. ...