Liu Yue (劉岳) | 24 Histories

Overview

Liu Yue was an official and Scholar.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Zhaofu	昭輔
Alternate name	Yue	嶽

Life and dates

Death

Age Value: 56 · Reckoning: Sui
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 136

Age

Value: 56 · Reckoning: Sui
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 136

Attested activity

AD 926 梁唐間
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passages 110, 116, 136

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Descendant of Liu Zhenghui (劉政會)
eighth-generation descendant 八代孫 · paternal line · 8 generations
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 111
Kin of Liu Chongwang (劉崇望)
paternal uncle 諸父 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 111
Kin of Liu Chonggui (劉崇龜)
paternal uncle 諸父 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 111
Parent of Liu Wensou (劉溫叟)
son 子
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 137

Career and standing

vice minister of personnel 吏部侍郎
AD 926 明宗時 · Held
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 116
director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices 太常卿
Held
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 127
director of the Palace Library 秘書監
Transferred to
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 126
minister of personnel 吏部尚書
Posthumously granted
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 136

Places and affiliations

Polity Later Liang 梁 · Relation Served
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 113
At Luoyang 洛陽
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 110

Learning and skills

Earned
Credential Presented Scholar 進士
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 113

Works and attributed material

Ceremonial Forms 書儀
Relation Reviser
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 132
Speech · Speaker · Quote true
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 124

Events and relationships

All officials received credentials
Administrative · Reformer
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 55, passage 121

References in the histories

Search passages

History

14 passages

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 55Volume 55 Miscellaneous Biographies 35: Liu Xu, Lu Wenji, Ma Yinxun, Yao Yi, Liu Yue, Ma Gao, Cui Jujian, Cui Zhuo, Li Yi · 14 passages

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劉嶽，字昭輔，洛陽人也。 Liu Yue, courtesy name Zhaofu, was a native of Luoyang.

嶽名家子，好學，敏於文辭，善談論。 Yue came from a distinguished family, loved learning, wrote with quick facility, and was a gifted conversationalist.

嶽建言，以謂「制辭或任其材能，或褒其功行，或申以訓誡，而受官者既不給告身，皆不知受命之所以然，非王言所以告詔也。 Yue proposed, saying, "Appointment texts sometimes assign office according to a man's talents and abilities, sometimes praise his achievements and conduct, and sometimes extend instruction and admonition. Yet since those who receive office are not issued appointment credentials, none know why they have received the command. This is not the way royal words should announce commands.

由是百官皆賜告身，自嶽始也。 From then on all officials received credentials—a reform that began with Yue.

道旦入朝，兵部侍郎任贊與嶽在其後，道行數反顧，贊問嶽：「道反顧何為？」 One morning Dao entered court, with Vice Minister of War Ren Zan and Yue behind him. Dao repeatedly looked back as he walked. Zan asked Yue: "Why is Dao looking back?"

嶽曰：「遺下《兔園冊》爾。」 Yue said, "He left his Rabbit Garden Manual behind."

《兔園冊》者，鄉校俚儒教田夫牧子之所誦也，故嶽舉以誚道。 The Rabbit Garden Manual was the primer village schoolmasters used for farmers' sons—Yue cited it to ridicule Dao.

道聞之大怒，徙嶽秘書監。 Dao heard of it and, furious, transferred Yue to director of the Palace Library.

其後李愚為相，遷嶽太常卿。 Later, when Li Yu became chancellor, Yue was promoted to director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

乃詔嶽選文學通知古今之士，共刪定之。 He ordered Yue to select learned men versed in past and present to revise the work jointly.

嶽與太常博士段颙、田敏等增損其書，而其事出鄙俚，皆當時家人女子傳習所見，往往轉失其本，然猶時有《禮》之遺制。 Yue worked with court academicians Duan Yong, Tian Min, and others to revise the book. Much of it came from vulgar household custom, passed on by women of the time and often far from the original, though traces of the canonical Rites still survived.

嶽卒於官，年五十六，贈吏部尚書。 Yue died in office at fifty-six and was posthumously made minister of personnel.

而嶽等皆當時儒者，卒無所發明，但因其書增損而已。 Yet Yue and his colleagues, though leading Confucians of the day, clarified nothing in the end and merely revised that book.

然其後世士庶吉兇，皆取嶽書以為法，而十又轉失其三四也，可勝嘆哉！ Later generations of gentlemen and commoners alike took Yue's book as their standard for congratulation and condolence, yet three or four parts in ten were lost again in transmission. How lamentable!