Liu Ban

Life

He was the younger brother of Liu Chang. His father was Liu Lizhi; his wife was Han, and his father-in-law was Han Zong. His son was Liu Fangshan; his nephews included Liu Fengshi and Liu Dangshi, and his great-grandsons included Liu Guinian and Liu Guicong.

In the sixth year of the Qingli era under Emperor Renzong (1046), he and his brother Liu Chang passed the jinshi examination. He served in local offices for twenty years before entering the Directorate of Education as a lecturer, later becoming a collator in the Palace Library.

During the Xining era he served as judge of the Kaogong Office and associate administrator of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices; after a dispute with fellow officials while examining Kaifeng candidates, he was impeached by the censors. After sending Wang Anshi a letter arguing that the new policies were unsuitable and opposing the Green Sprouts Law, he was demoted to assistant prefect of Taizhou and later became prefect of Caozhou. He subsequently served as a judge in the Kaifeng Prefecture, commissioner of the Jingdong Circuit, and prefect of Yanzhou and Bozhou. When Wu Juhou succeeded him as Jingdong commissioner, his lax performance in office was blamed, and he was demoted to supervise the Hengzhou Salt Store.

After Zhezong's accession, he was recalled as prefect of Xiangzhou and became Deputy Director of the Palace Library. Because of illness he sought release, was additionally appointed to 直龍圖閣 and became prefect of Caizhou; after several months in Cai, he was summoned and appointed a Secretariat Drafter, Zhongshu Sheren. His career also included the posts of Jixian Academy Collator and Chaosan Dafu. He was a friend of Su Shi and was recommended by Ouyang Xiu. He died in the fourth year of Yuanyou (1089), at the age of sixty-seven.

Historical scholarship and writings

He read widely and was deeply versed in classical learning and history. He assisted Sima Guang in compiling the Zizhi Tongjian, taking responsibility for its Han-history sections. His works included Pengcheng ji, Gongfei ji, and Zhongshan shihua. Pengcheng ji was compiled in forty juan, including sixteen juan of poetry; poems outside the collection were later arranged as a seventeenth juan.

His total writings are given as either one hundred or sixty juan, and much of the corpus was lost. Extant works include Donghan shu kanwu (four juan), Hanguan yi (three juan), and the four-juan commentary on Mengzi waishu; other works attributed to him include Lianghan kanwu (one juan), Hou Hanshu jingyao, Biannian jishi (eleven juan), Wudai chunqiu, and San Liu Hanshu biaozhu (six juan).