Liu E
Encyclopedia
Liu E courtesy name
/"zì": "Tieyun" (T'ieh-yün) (鐵雲), was a Chinese
scholar, entrepreneur, and writer.
). 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.
fragments, published the first volume of examples and rubbings in 1903, and correctly identified thirty-four oracle bone script characters
.
romanization: "The Travels of Lao Ts'an") written in 1903-04 and published in 1907
. Thinly disguising his own views in those of the physician hero, Liu satirically describes (inaccurately) the rise of the Boxers in the countryside , the decay of the Yellow River control system, and the hypocritical incompetence of the bureaucracy. The novel, a social satire that showed the limits of the old elite and officialdom, was an immediate success. The 1983 translation by Yang Xianyi
and Gladys Yang
omits major sections on the grounds that Liu could not have written them because they were superstitious.
.
Chinese style name
A Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name , is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect...
/"zì": "Tieyun" (T'ieh-yün) (鐵雲), was a Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
scholar, entrepreneur, and writer.
Government and politics
Liu was a native of Dantu (modern day ZhenjiangZhenjiang
Zhenjiang is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Jiangsu province in the eastern People's Republic of China . Sitting on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Changzhou to the east, and Yangzhou across the river to the north.Once...
). 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.
Oracle bone archeology and scholarship
He collected five thousand oracle boneOracle bone
Oracle bones are pieces of bone normally from ox scapula or turtle plastron which were used for divination chiefly during the late Shang Dynasty. The bones were first inscribed with divination in oracle bone script by using a bronze pin, and then heated until crack lines appeared in which the...
fragments, published the first volume of examples and rubbings in 1903, and correctly identified thirty-four oracle bone script characters
Oracle bone script
Oracle bone script refers to incised ancient Chinese characters found on oracle bones, which are animal bones or turtle shells used in divination in Bronze Age China...
.
The Travels of Lao Can
It was his economic ideas that inspired his literary work The Travels of Lao Can ' onMouseout='HidePop("18310")' href="/topics/Wade-Giles">Wade-GilesWade-Giles
Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...
romanization: "The Travels of Lao Ts'an") written in 1903-04 and published in 1907
1907 in literature
The year 1907 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* June 26 - Mark Twain receives an honorary doctorate of laws degree from Oxford University.*James Joyce meets Ettore Schmitz for the first time....
. Thinly disguising his own views in those of the physician hero, Liu satirically describes (inaccurately) the rise of the Boxers in the countryside , the decay of the Yellow River control system, and the hypocritical incompetence of the bureaucracy. The novel, a social satire that showed the limits of the old elite and officialdom, was an immediate success. The 1983 translation by Yang Xianyi
Yang Xianyi
Yang Xianyi was a Chinese translator, known for rendering many ancient and a few modern Chinese classics into English, including Dream of the Red Chamber....
and Gladys Yang
Gladys Yang
Gladys Yang was a British translator of Chinese literature, the wife of another noted translator Yang Xianyi...
omits major sections on the grounds that Liu could not have written them because they were superstitious.
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 Urumqi, XinjiangÜrümqi
Ürümqi , formerly Tihwa , is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country....
.