Liu Xin (劉歆) | 24 Histories

Overview

Liu Xin was a Western Han scholar, bibliographer, and official.

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 1 to AD 23 Western Han to Xin, as teacher of Zheng Xing
Strongly inferred · Book of Later Han 30, passage 135
AD 1 to AD 23 刘歆傳 (no reign date in chapter)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 115, passage 7
BC 50 to AD 23 劉歆之學，猶弊亡新
Strongly inferred · Book of Chen 24, passage 65
BC 8 to AD 23 劉歆傳
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 114, passage 125
AD 1 to AD 23 劉歆校中秘書
Directly stated · History of Jin 131, passage 49
AD 1 to AD 23 劉歆著錄時代（西漢末／新）
Strongly inferred · Book of Southern Qi 19, passages 117-118

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AD 1 劉歆見圖讖之文則名字改易
Directly stated · Records of the Three Kingdoms 31, passage 121
BC 7 to AD 23 向子歆以為
Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passages 371, 376
BC 7 to AD 5 哀平之際
Dated from the passage context · Book of Later Han 31, passage 5
AD 10 國師公劉歆言
Dated from the passage context · Book of Han 27, passages 327-328
AD 9 to AD 23 王莽時
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 34, passage 4
BC 22 to AD 18 與王莽、劉歆並
Dated from the passage context · Book of Han 99, passages 183, 195, 207

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Kin of Liu Gong (劉龔)
nephew 兄子 · paternal line · Through Elder brother of Liu Xin (劉歆兄)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 34, passage 10
Sibling of Elder brother of Liu Xin (劉歆兄)
elder brother 兄 · Full siblings
Strongly inferred · Book of Later Han 34, passage 10
Child of Liu Xiang (劉向)
son 子
Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passage 371
Parent of Liu Fen (劉棻)
son 子
Directly stated · Book of Han 99, passages 196, 200

Key source chapters

Book of Han, Chapter 99 Volume 87b: Yang Xiong 2 5 passages
Book of Later Han, Chapter 34 Volume 30a: Biographies of Su Jing; Yang Hou 3 passages
Book of Han, Chapter 65 Volume 56: Dong Zhongshu 2 passages
Book of Later Han, Chapter 117 Volume 106: Five Elements Part Four 2 passages
Book of Southern Qi, Chapter 19 Volume 19 Treatises 11: Five Elements 2 passages

Career and standing

State Preceptor 國師公
AD 10 國師公劉歆言 · Held
Directly stated · Book of Han 27, passage 327
high duke 上公
Held
Directly stated · Book of Han 99, passage 196
National Instructor 國師公
Held
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 34, passage 13

Places and affiliations

AD 10 國師公劉歆言
Polity Xin 新 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Book of Han 27, passage 327
Western Han 汉
Relation Under
Strongly inferred · Book of Later Han 115, passage 7
Polity Western Han 漢 · Relation Served
Strongly inferred · Book of Han 65, passage 371
Polity Western Han 西漢 · Relation Lived under
Strongly inferred · Book of Southern Qi 19, passage 117

Works and attributed material

Liu Xin's tradition 刘歆传
Relation Author
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 116, passage 7
Liu Xin's tradition/commentary 劉歆傳
Relation Author
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 114, passage 125
Liu Xin’s transmission / commentary 刘歆傳
Relation Author
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 115, passage 7
Seven Summaries 七略
Relation Author
Directly stated · History of Jin 131, passage 49
tradition on floral prodigies / soft-bodied vermin omens 刘歆传
Relation Author
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 117, passage 8
Treatise on Appearances 視傳
Relation Author
Directly stated · Book of Southern Qi 19, passages 117-118

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Changes 易
Relation Quoted
Directly stated · Book of Han 27, passage 327
Assessment · Author · Direct quotation · Units s0371, s0372, s0373, s0374, s0375, s0376 · Mode quoted-speech Speaker Liu Xin (劉歆)
Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passages 371-376
Shelled insects—in Liu Xin's transmission they are taken to be hairy creatures. 介虫，劉歆傳以爲毛虫。
Commentary · Author · Paraphrased
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 114, passage 125
Commentary · Author · Direct quotation
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 117, passage 108
classes soft pests as winged creatures
Commentary · Author
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 115, passage 7
Speech · Speaker · Direct quotation · With Wang Mang (王莽)
Directly stated · Book of Han 27, passage 327
Treatise on Appearances 視傳
Treatise · Author · Statement 羽蟲之孽，謂雞禍也 · Mode named-source-report Source Person Id Liu Xin (劉歆) Source Work Treatise on Appearances 視傳
Directly stated · Book of Southern Qi 19, passage 117

Events and relationships

Cited Zhou office of springs as classical warrant
AD 10 國師公劉歆言 · Policy advice · Advisor · With Wang Mang (王莽)
Directly stated · Book of Han 27, passage 327
Collated imperial library books
Scholarly · Collator
Directly stated · History of Jin 131, passage 49
Judged Liu Xiang comparison excessive
Scholarly · Critic
Directly stated · Book of Han 65, passage 376
Relation Advisor to · Person Wang Mang (王莽)
Directly stated · Book of Han 27, passage 327
Relation Debated with · Person Huan Tan (桓譚)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 31, passage 5

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Book of Han 27, passage 327
Changed his names and characters after seeing prophetic chart texts
AD 1 劉歆見圖讖之文則名字改易
Directly stated · Records of the Three Kingdoms 31, passage 121

References in the histories

Search passages

History

23 passages

Book of Chen, Chapter 24Volume 24: Zhou Hongzheng; Yuan Xian · 1 passage

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韓非之智，不免秦獄，劉歆之學，猶弊亡新，音塵不嗣，每以耿灼。 Han Fei's wisdom did not escape Qin's prison; Liu Xin's learning still perished in Xin. Voice and dust do not continue—I burn with grief.

Book of Han, Chapter 27Volume 24b: Treatise on Trade 2 · 1 passage

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國師公劉歆言周有泉府之官，收不讎，與欲得，即易所謂「理財正辭，禁民為非」者也。 State Preceptor Liu Xin said that Zhou had an Office of Springs that took in unsold goods and supplied them to those who wanted them; this was what the Changes called 'ordering finances and rectifying terms, forbidding the people to do wrong.'

Book of Han, Chapter 65Volume 56: Dong Zhongshu · 2 passages

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至向子歆以為：「伊、呂乃聖人之耦，王者不得則不興。 But Liu Xiang's son Liu Xin held: "Yi Yin and Lü Wang were companions fit for sages; without men like them, a true king could not rise.

至向曾孫龔，篤論君子也，以歆之言為然。 Liu Xiang's great-grandson Liu Gong, a fair critic, sided with Liu Xin.

Book of Han, Chapter 99Volume 87b: Yang Xiong 2 · 5 passages

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初，雄年四十餘，自蜀來至游京師，大司馬車騎將軍王音奇其文雅，召以為門下史，薦雄待詔，歲餘，奏《羽獵賦》，除為郎，給事黃門，與王莽、劉歆並。 In his forties Yang Xiong left Shu for the capital. Wang Yin, commander-in-chief and chariot general, admired his polish, took him on as a gate clerk, and recommended him as an expectant scholar. A year later his 《Rhapsody on the Imperial Hunt》 won him a gentleman’s post at the Yellow Gate, where he served alongside Wang Mang and Liu Xin.

唯劉歆及范逡敬焉，而桓譚以為絕倫。 Only Liu Xin and Fan Qun honored him; Huan Tan pronounced him without peer.

王莽時，劉歆、甄豐皆為上公，莽既以符命自立，即位之後，欲絕其原以神前事，而豐子尋、歆子棻復獻之。 Under Wang Mang, Liu Xin and Zhen Feng stood among the highest nobles. Mang had risen on forged portents and, once enthroned, tried to bury their origin and cast the earlier events as divine, yet Zhen Feng's son Xun and Liu Xin's son Fen again submitted such documents.

閒請問其故，迺劉棻甞從雄學作竒字，雄不知情。 An inquiry found that Liu Xin's son Liu Fen had once studied rare characters with Yang Xiong, who knew nothing of the plot.

劉歆亦嘗觀之，謂雄曰：「空自苦！ Liu Xin read the work and told him, "You torture yourself for nothing!

Book of Later Han, Chapter 30Volume 27: Biographies of Xuan, Zang, Two Wangs, Du, Guo, Wu, Cheng, Zheng, Zhao · 1 passage

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興嘗師事劉歆，林既遇之，欣然言曰：『林得興等固諧矣，使宏得林，且有以益之。』 Zheng Xing had studied under Liu Xin; when Du Lin met him he exclaimed, 'To win colleagues like Zheng Xing is harmony enough for me; were Wei Hong to study with me, he would gain still more.'

Book of Later Han, Chapter 31Volume 28a: Biographies of Huan Tan; Feng Yan · 1 passage

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能文章，尤好古學，數從劉歆、楊雄辯析疑異。 He wrote well and doted on antiquarian scholarship, often debating knotty questions with Liu Xin and Yang Xiong.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 34Volume 30a: Biographies of Su Jing; Yang Hou · 3 passages

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王莽時，與劉歆等共典校書，拜代郡中尉。 Under Wang Mang he joined Liu Xin and others in overseeing editorial work on the palace books and received appointment as commandant of Dai commandery.

初，延岑護軍鄧仲況擁兵據南陽陰縣為寇，而劉歆兄子龔為其謀主。 Earlier, Deng Zhongkuang—protector-general to the warlord Yan Cen—had seized Yinxian in Nanyang as a rebel stronghold, with Liu Xin’s nephew Liu Gong as his principal adviser.

走昔以摩研編削之才，與國師公從事出入，校定秘書，竊自依依，末由自遠。 In former days I went in and out at the National Instructor’s side with nothing more than editing skill, helping collate the palace library; I cherished that connection in private yet could never break free of it.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 114Volume 103: Five Elements Part One · 1 passage

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介虫，劉歆傳以爲毛虫。 Commentators following Liu Xin class the "shelled" pests with hairy vermin omens.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 115Volume 104: Five Elements Part Two · 1 passage

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蠃虫，刘歆傳以为羽虫。 Commentary following Liu Xin classes those "soft" pests with omens among winged things.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 116Volume 105: Five Elements Part Three · 1 passage

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鱼孽，刘歆传以为介虫之孽，谓蝗属也。 Liu Xin's school reads "fish prodigies" alongside omens among armored or shelled vermin—in practice, the locust plague.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 117Volume 106: Five Elements Part Four · 2 passages

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华孽，刘歆传为蠃虫之孽，谓螟属也。 Liu Xin grouped these floral prodigies with "soft-bodied" vermin omens—in practice, the rice stem borer.

刘歆以为崩犹弛也。 Liu Xin compared a mountain fall to foundations giving way.

History of Jin, Chapter 131Volume 131 Biographies 69: Huan Zhe, Liang Chong, Song Gui, Pan Shouheng, Fang Ji, Liu Wansu, Zhang Congzheng, Li Qingsi, Ji Tianxi, Zhang Yuansu, Ma Guizhong, Wu Zhen Son: Kang, Li Mao, Hu Dexin · 1 passage

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劉歆校中秘書，以術數、方伎載之《七略》。 Liu Xin collated the imperial library and placed numerology and the technical arts in his Seven Summaries.

Book of Southern Qi, Chapter 19Volume 19 Treatises 11: Five Elements · 2 passages

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劉歆《視傳》有羽蟲之孽，謂雞禍也。 Liu Xin's Treatise on Appearances lists portents among feathered creatures—the calamity of the chicken.

班固案《易》雞屬《巽》，今以羽蟲之孽類是也，依歆說附《視傳》云。 Ban Gu notes that in the Changes the chicken belongs to Xun, Wind; feathered portents are classed likewise. Following Liu Xin, appended to the Treatise on Appearances:

Records of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 31Volume 31: Book of Shu 1: Biographies of the Two Governor Lius · 1 passage

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劉歆見圖讖之文則名字改易，終於不免其身，而慶鍾二主。 Liu Xin changed his name after reading prognosticating texts, yet could not save himself, while the omen’s fulfillment fell instead upon two other sovereigns.