劉蒼

Liu Cang 劉蒼 (ca. 30–83), Early Eastern Han prince, scholar, and writer.

Liu Cang, Prince of Dongping 東平 (administrative seat Wuyan 無鹽, east of modern Dongping, Shandong), was one of the most learned members of the Eastern Han imperial family. He was the son of Emperor Guangwu 光武 (r. 25–57) and the younger brother of Emperor Ming (r. 57–75) who held him in high regard. Upon his succession as emperor in 57, Emperor Ming named Liu Cang Prince of Dongping. Liu Cang composed the lyrics for a ritual ceremony in the temple that was built in honor of Emperor Guangwu after his death on 29 March 57. In 60, Liu Cang led the court discussions concerning the proper songs and dances that should be used in the temple ceremony in honor of Emperor Guangwu. The extant text that is attributed to Liu Cang is a song in fourteen tetrasyllabic lines. In 62, Liu Cang requested to retire to his estate. After refusing his request several times, Emperor Ming granted his request. Except for short visits to the capital, Liu Cang spent most of the rest of his life on his estate in Dongping. He continued to be highly regarded by both Emperor Ming and his successor Emperor Zhang (75–88). In 83, Liu Cang made a visit to Luoyang where Emperor Zhang warmly received him. Shortly upon his return to Dongping, he died of illness. His writings included petitions, letters, memoranda, fu, heptasyllabic poems, songs, and something called biezi 別字, which has been variously explained as exercises in calligraphy, a dictionary of variant characters, or even chenwei writings. The monograph on bibliography of the Sui shu mentions a collection of Liu Cang’s writings listed in a Liang period catalogue. This was lost already by the early Tang. In addition to the dance song mentioned above, his extant writings include nine petitions he presented to the court.

David R. Knechtges

Citation

• 劉蒼 Liu Cang, Brill’s Chinese Reference Shelf. Brill Online, 2017. http://chinesereferenceshelf.brillonline.com/ancient-literature/ent...