The Story of Liu Xiang of the Tianlu Pavilion

Liu Xiang (circa 79–8 BCE) was an important royal statesman of the Western Han dynasty and a founding figure in Chinese bibliography. Born Liu Gengsheng and courtesy-named Zizheng, he was from Pei County, in present-day Jiangsu. He entered government service at the age of twelve and served under three emperors: Xuan, Yuan, and Cheng. Though imprisoned twice for speaking frankly, he never abandoned the integrity expected of a scholar. During the reign of Emperor Cheng, he was appointed to catalogue the books in the imperial archives, pioneering Chinese bibliography. His work Bielu was hailed as the “founding work of textual collation.” He systematically organized classics such as Strategies of the Warring States, Songs of Chu, and Classic of Mountains and Seas, and wrote more than thirty works, including Treatise on the Five Phases in the Great Plan, Biographies of Exemplary Women, and Garden of Persuasions, helping to build the Han dynasty's system of learning. Throughout his life, he balanced political ideals with his scholarly mission. As a guardian of texts, he made an enduring contribution to the preservation of Chinese civilization.