Liu Yiqing 劉義慶

Liu Yiqing 劉義慶 (403-444), courtesy name Jibo 季伯, was a prince and writer of the Liu-Song period 劉宋 (420-479). He was the second son of Liu Daolin 劉道憐 (368-422), Prince Jing of Changsha 長沙景王, who was a younger brother of the dynastic founder Liu Yu 劉裕 (Emperor Wu 宋武帝, r. 420-422). He was also adopted by Liu Daogui 劉道規 (370-412), the Prince of Linchuan 臨川, who did not have a son. With the age of 13 sui, he was invested as Duke of the Commandery of Nanjun 南郡公.

In 420, he inherited the title of Prince of Linchuan and was appointed palace attendant (shizhong 侍中). In 424, he was made Cavalier attendant-in-ordinary (sanji changshi 散騎常侍), Director of the Palace Library (mishu jian 秘書監), then Minister of Revenue (duzhi shangshu 度支尚書), afterwards metropolitan magistrate (yin 尹) of Danyang 丹陽, with the title of Bulwark-of-the-state General (fuguo jiangjun 輔國將軍). In 429, he was appointed Left Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat (shangshu zuo puye 尚書左僕射), and in 431, Director of the Palace Secretariat (zhongshu ling 中書令) and General of the Vanguard (qian jiangjun 前將軍). In 439, he was promoted to General of the Guards (wei jiangjun 衛將軍) and regional inspector (cishi 刺史) of the province of Jiangzhou 江州. A year later, the reached the status of Commander-in-chief (dudu 都督) of six provinces, concurrently serving as regional inspector of Nan-Yanzhou 南兗州. He was also given the honorific title of Commander Unequalled in Honour (kaifu tongyi sansi 開府儀同三司).

Liu Yiqing was an admirer of the writers and poets of the age and was befriended to Yuan Shu 袁淑 (408-453), Lu Zhan 陸展 (d. 454), He Changyu 何長瑜 (died c. 443) and Bao Zhao 鮑照 (c. 414-466). He is particularly famous for his story collection Shishuo xinyu 世說新語, in which he assembles exemplary cases of personalities from recent history to demonstrate various aspects of virtuous or specific conduct. Another book of his is the biographical collection Xuzhou xianxian zhuan 徐州先賢傳, and the 200-juan-long collection Jilin 集林. Both are lost. Some scarce fragments are preserved of his books Xiaoshuo 小說, Dianxu 典敘, Youminglu 幽明錄 and Xuanyanji 宣驗記.