Liu E

Liu E (simplified Chinese: 刘鹗; traditional Chinese: 劉鶚; pinyin: Liú È, 18 October 1857 — 23 August 1909), courtesy name/"zì": "Tieyun" (T'ieh-yün) (鐵雲), was a Chinese scholar, entrepreneur, and writer of the late Qing era.

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.

Oracle bone archeology and scholarship

He collected five thousand oracle bone fragments, published the first volume of examples and rubbings in 1903, and correctly identified thirty-four oracle bone script characters.

The Travels of Lao Can

One of Liu's best known works is The Travels of Lao Can.

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 Ürümqi, Xinjiang.

References

• 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.)

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