A "Fu" by Liu Xin on His Travels in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia in the Late Western Han

A colloquium concerning the “Sui chu fu” attributed to Liu Xin of the late Western Han period will be held at UC Berkeley.

This presentation concerns the “Sui chu fu” attributed to Liu Xin(d. 23) of the late Western Han period. In 6 B.C.E., Liu Xin petitioned the imperial court to establish the Zuo zhuan, the Mao version of the Shi jing, the remnants of the Book of Rites, and the old text version of the Classic of Documents as official texts in the imperial university. When his proposal met with criticism from important officials, he submitted a letter to the professors of the university, berating them for their stubborn opposition to his proposal. Liu Xin’s reply angered the senior scholar Shi Dan(d. 3 C.E.), who requested the emperor to impeach Liu for “altering old established patterns and destroying what had been established by former emperors Fearing punishment, Liu Xin asked to be assigned to a provincial post. He first was given the position of governor of Henei commandery (the Yellow River area of modern Henan), but because members of the imperial clan were not permitted “to govern the Three Rivers” (the commanderies of Henei, Henan, and Hedong), he was transferred to the northern commandery of Wuyuan (northwest of modern Baotou, Inner Mongolia). This was in effect an exile for Liu Xin. On his way to Wuyuan, Liu Xin wrote a fu titled “Sui chu fu”.

In this talk, the following issues relating to this piece: (1) The meaning of the words “Sui chu” in the title. (2) The content of the piece and its organization. (3) The importance of the piece in the tradition of the fu on travel. (4) Significant differences in the text as preserved in two different versions of Guwen yuan.