Liu E (writer)

This article is about the Qing Dynasty official and writer. For the Han Zhao empress, see Liu E (Han Zhao). For the ship Liu O, see Empire Yukon.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Liu.

Liu E 劉鶚 / 劉鉄雲 / 鴻都百煉生
Born	(1857-10-18)18 October 1857 Dantu, Jiangsu
Died	23 August 1909(1909-08-23) (aged 51) Dihua, Xinjiang
Pen name	Hong Du Bai Lian Sheng Chinese: 鸿都百炼生
Occupation	Writer, scholar, politician
Language	Chinese
Nationality	Chinese
Period	late Qing era
Genre	Illustrated fiction
Notable works	The Travels of Lao Can
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Liu E (simplified Chinese: 刘鹗; traditional Chinese: 劉鶚; pinyin: Liú È; Wade–Giles: Liu E; also spelled Liu O; 18 October 1857 – 23 August 1909), courtesy name Tieyun (simplified Chinese: 铁云; traditional Chinese: 鐵雲; pinyin: Tiěyún; Wade–Giles: T'ieh-yün), was a Chinese writer, archaeologist and politician of the late Qing Dynasty.

Government and politics

Liu was a native of Dantu (modern day Zhenjiang). In the government, he worked with flood control, famine relief, and railroads. He became disillusioned with official ideas of reform and became a proponent of private economic development modeled after western systems. During the Boxer Uprising he speculated in government rice, distributing it to the poor. He was cashiered for these efforts, but shrewd investments had left him wealthy enough to follow his pioneering archaeological studies and to write fiction.

Literature

Liu's best known work is The Travels of Lao Can, which the critic C.T. Hsia calls the "most beloved of all the novels" in the last decade of the Qing.

Liu E's novels borrowed allusions and images from classical Chinese literature and used extensive symbolism. Therefore, his works appealed to readers who had a classical education and were considered sophisticated.

Oracle bone archaeology and scholarship

In 1903 Liu published the first collection of 1,058 oracle bone rubbings entitled Tieyun Canggui (鐵雲藏龜, Tie Yun's [i.e., Liu E] Repository of Turtles) that helped launch the study of oracle bone inscriptions as a distinct branch of Chinese epigraphy.

Exile and death

Liu was framed for malfeasance related to his work during the Boxer Rebellion and was exiled in 1908, dying within the next year in Dihua of the Xinjiang Province (today known as Ürümqi).

References

• Doleželová-Velingerová, Milena. "Chapter 38: Fiction from the End of the Empire to the Beginning of the Republic (1897–1916)" in: Mair, Victor H. (editor). The Columbia History of Chinese Literature. Columbia University Press, 13 August 2013. p. 697–731. ISBN 0231528515, 9780231528511.
• Hsia, C.T. (2004). "The Travels of Lao Ts'an: An Exploration of Its Art and Meaning (1969)". C.T. Hsia on Literature. Columbia University Press. pp. 247–268. doi:10.7312/hsia12990-011.

• Shen, Tianyou, Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed.
• The Travels of Lao Ts'an, Liu T'ieh-yün (Liu E), translated by Harold Shadick, professor of Chinese literature in Cornell University. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1952. Reissued: New York; London: Columbia University Press, 1990. 277p. (A Morningside Book).
• The travels of Lao Can, translated by Yang Xianyi, Gladys Yang (Beijing: Panda Books, 1983; 176p.)
• Hummel, Arthur W. Sr., ed. (1943). "Liu Ê" . Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. United States Government Printing Office.

External links

• Works by E Liu at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Liu E at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)