Liu Zihui

Life

Liu Zihui was Liu Ge’s son and Liu Ziyu’s younger brother, the second son of Liu Ge; his wife was from the Lu family. His nephew Liu Ping was later adopted as his heir and compiled his posthumous writings.

By hereditary appointment he received the rank of Chengwulang and, in the first year of Jingkang, was appointed to the staff of Zhen-ding Prefecture. After Liu Ge died in the national calamity of the second year of Jingkang, he completed the mourning period and was appointed tongpan of Xinghua Military Prefecture; he held this office in 1130, the fourth year of Emperor Gaozong’s Jianyan era. His other offices included shuxie jiyi wenzi, supervisor of the Chongyou Abbey at Mount Wuyi, an attendant in the Palace Clothing Office, and a judge in the Guangnan Eastern Route transport office.

After completing his term in the second year of Shaoxing, the strain of mourning left him ill and emaciated, and he resigned because he could not endure official duties. He returned to Mount Wuyi, remained out of office for seventeen years, and devoted himself to teaching; scholars called him Master Pingshan.

Scholarship and teaching

He was particularly learned in the Changes, taught tirelessly, and was joined to Hu Xian and Liu Mianzhi in a friendship of shared moral purpose. Zhu Song was his friend. After Zhu Song’s death, he entrusted his son Zhu Xi to the Liu brothers; at his father’s command, Zhu Xi came to Liu Zihui’s gate to study, and the two brothers instructed him. Zhu Xi also studied with Liu Zihui.

His students included Ouyang Guangzu, Liu Mao, and Huang Zhu, and he belonged to a poetry society with Zhan Chaoyi. He also exchanged letters with the Chan master Zonggao. When Song Xiang was seven, he wrote a lantern poem at Liu Zihui’s command, completing it at once and earning his high praise.

Works and posthumous reputation

The Pingshan ji (《屏山集》), a twenty-juan collection, was compiled from his posthumous writings by Liu Ping; Hu Xian wrote its preface and Zhu Xi its postscript. Another work is 《劉屏山先生聖傳論》, also titled 《劉屛山先生聖傳論》, in one juan.

An edited text of his poetry uses the Liu Ze edition of the seventh year of the Ming Zhengde era as its base, collates the Wenyuan Ge Siku Quanshu edition and Li Tingyu’s Qiuke Caotang edition of the eighteenth Daoguang year, and appends newly collected poems outside the collection. He died in the seventeenth year of Shaoxing at the age of forty-seven. Zhu Xi wrote his Tomb Table for Master Liu of Pingshan, his biographical account, epitaph, and postscript texts.