Name variations

Liu is the family name, or surname. His given name is Xizai (熙载). His courtesy name was Bójiǎn (伯简). He may also be known by the pseudonym (art name), Róngzhāi (容斋) or Wùyázǐ (寤崖子).

Life

The book, The Record of Xing Hua (兴化市志) remains the primary source of bibliographical material on Liu Xizai. More sources include internal evidence from articles by or about Liu Xizai, and other sources.

In 1813, Liu Xizai was born in Xinghua, Jiangsu. When he was ten years old, his father died. Several years later, his mother also died. The young Xizai read extensively and engaged in studying. He made friends with Wō Rén (倭仁) and many other intelligent peers. In 1864, he served as a teacher in Guozijian and made great contributions. He finished his autobiography when he was very old. In 1881, he died at the age of 69.

Works

Most of his works focus on criticizing literature. They are considered important to the development of Chinese culture.

Brief introduction of his major books

• Generalization of Art (艺概)

• : It consists of six volumes (that is 文概, 诗概, 赋概, 词曲概, 书概, 经义概)

• Collections of Previous Mistakes (昨非集)

• Classification of Four Tunes (四音定切)

Influence

Liu Xizai has had a great influence in China for his correct and outstanding appreciation of quantities of literature books or poem written by many famous people such as Du Fu, Wang Wei, Liu Yuxi and so on. He provided people with different perspectives to comment on traditional Chinese culture.

生平

劉熙載生於嘉慶十八年正月癸巳（1813年2月25日）。十歲喪父，數年後又喪母，篤行力學。道光十九年（1839年），赴南京鄉試中舉。道光二十四年（1844年）春，赴北京參加會試，中進士，選為翰林院庶吉士，散館授翰林院編修。

咸豐三年（1853年）奉命值上書房，為皇室子弟講學，帝書「性靜情逸」賜之。咸豐六年，年終考績，二樂察，名列一等，記名以道府用。咸豐十年（1860年），英法聯軍入北京，「官吏多遷避，熙載獨留。」胡林翼稱他「貞介絕俗」。隔年赴武昌任江漢書院主講。

同治三年（1864年），補國子監司業，同年秋，補左春坊左中允，出督廣東學政，作《懲忿》、《窒慾》、《遷善》、《改過》四箴，「進諸生而訓之，如家人父子」。同治六年（1867年）應敏齋聘請，講學於上海龍門書院，至光緒六年（1880年），前後十四年，「每五日必一問其所讀何書，所學何事，講去其非而趨于是。丙夜，或周視齋舍，察諸生在否。」，時人譽之為「以正學教弟子，有胡安定風。」

光緒六年（1880年）夏，因疾返歸故里。晚年自稱「于古人志趣，尤契陶淵明。其為學與教人，以遷善改過為歸，而不斤斤為先儒爭門戶。」光緒七年二月乙未（1881年3月2日），卒於古桐書屋。《清史稿》有傳。

評價

《清史稿·儒林傳》評說：「平居嘗以『志士不忘在溝壑』、『遁世不見知而不慍』二語自勵。自少至老，未嘗作一妄語。表里渾然，夷險一節。」

成就

熙載一生以治經學為主，詩、賦、詞曲、書法、聲韻、算術無不通曉。著有《藝概》、《昨非集》、《四音定切》、《說文雙聲》、《古桐書屋六種》、《古桐書屋續刻三種》。其中文學理論著作《藝概》，是近代一部重要的文學批評論著。

其他

新文化運動主帥胡適的父親胡傳為其弟子，胡傳從1868年到1871年曾在上海龍門書院學習，師從劉熙載。

在2019年香港中學文憑考試中國語文科的閱讀能力考試中，其作品《海鷗》被選用為文言部份的文章。

注釋

參考書目

• 趙爾巽等，《清史稿》

• 《清儒學案》

• 《興化縣志》

• 韓烈文：《劉熙載《藝概》研究》