Figures
People of Qingyuan
People connected to Qingyuan through origin, office, travel, works, events and local memory.
Exiled officials and teaching
Han Yu
Head of the Eight Tang–Song masters. Demoted to magistrate of Yangshan for a year and two months in Zhenyuan 19; he opened schools and encouraged farming. Yangshan renamed herding-hill Xianling Mountain. Cliff inscriptions and a reading terrace survive as memorial traces.
Yangshan; Yanxi Pavilion in Lianzhou also holds his record
Liu Yuxi
Mid-Tang writer, called the Poet-Hero. Prefect of Lianzhou for more than four years in the Yuanhe reign; he opened schools and dredged Haiyang Lake. His verses on Lianzhou include “of all mountains and waters, none without beauty” and “only a thousand hills outpaint the scene.”.
Lianzhou
Su Shi
Twice passed Qingyuan on his Lingnan exile, leaving “Heaven opens Qingyuan Gorge; the land turns Ningbi Bay.” Feilai Gorge and Temple, Ningbi Bay and the Yingde Beijiang hold verse and memory of the crossing.
Qingcheng; Yingde
Mi Fu
Calligrapher who served at Hanguang. Local gazetteers praise a light administration and spreading of teaching; a shrine was built. Yingde’s Beijiang inscriptions are the material layer of Northern Song literati traffic.
Hanguang, Yingde
Jiang Fang
Tang writer, transferred to prefect of Lianzhou in Baoli 2. Had a reputation for good government and opened Lengjia Gorge on the Lianjiang. Rebuilt Fushan Temple and left the Fushan stele. Famous in literary history for the Tale of Huo Xiaoyu; this museum records only the Lianzhou administration and the stele.
Lianzhou
Local figures
Liu Zhan
Lianzhou native, late-Tang chief minister, one of Guangdong’s few home-grown chancellors after Zhang Jiuling. Recorded for blunt remonstrance and honesty. Huangchuan letters weigh heavier because of him.
Lianzhou
Zhu Ruzhen
Qingyuan County native, bangyan of the Jiachen special examination of Guangxu, late-Qing and Republican writer and calligrapher. The Aiyuan house on Nanmen Street was demolished in 1994. Zhu Ruzhen Park and the “bangyan and di” plaque in the city museum remain.
Qingcheng; Qingxin Huangkeng origin
Liu Jing
Lianzhou native, jinshi of Yuanhe 15, first jinshi from what is now Qingyuan. Prefect Liu Yuxi presented the verse “the Xiang talent is this Liu.” His son Liu Zhan later became a late-Tang chief minister.
Lianzhou
Liu Tui
Lianzhou native, late-Tang jinshi, rising to Right Reminder and Secretariat Drafter. Author of Wenquanzi. Demoted after criticising Linghu Tao’s son. A node of Huangchuan native letters.
Lianzhou
Huang Sun
Of Lianzhou Gaoliang (the Huang clan later centred between Sanjiang, Liannan, and Dongbei, Lianzhou). Jinshi of Later Liang Longde 2; rose to left servant-shooter under Southern Han. Read as a youth on Jingfu Mountain. Gui Xiang Ji is mostly lost. A Huang Minister shrine stands at Tangtouping, Dongbei.
Lianzhou; Liannan
Meng Binyu
Of Bao’an, Lianzhou. Jinshi of Later Jin Kaiyun; a poet in High Tang manner. Recorded in local gazetteers and the Qing Unified Gazetteer. Tied to Jingfu Mountain and the Bao’an letters layer.
Lianzhou
Feng Dafei
Of Dongbei, Lianxian. Whampoa first class; early CCP military educator; among the first Party members trained as a pilot; education chief of the New Fourth Army. Killed in 1942. The house is a Guangdong provincial heritage site; Dongbei also has a 2005 memorial hall.
Lianzhou
He Changqi
Of Qigong, Yangshan. Enlisted in the An Lushan rebellion, rose to general of the Imperial Insignia, enfeoffed Ningguo viscount. Local gazetteers say his sons made names in letters. An early Yangshan military node.
Yangshan
Liao Chong
Of Bao’an, Lianzhou, courtesy Qingxu. Learned in Confucian arts; served Liang as commandery registrar and later withdrew to Jingfu Mountain. Song Shenzong granted the title Lingxi True Lord. Tang prefect Jiang Fang wrote the Fushan stele on his eremitism. A native node of the Jingfu Mountain letters layer.
Lianzhou
Deng Lu
Of Shaopei, Xi’an, Lianzhou. Famous for filial conduct; prefect of Song’an; recorded as building walls, moats and bridges. Gazetteers place the tomb on Tengkong Mountain, Shaopei, and a prefect temple north of Taishou Lane in Lianzhou city. An early native administrative node.
Lianzhou
Tang Zhen
Of Guiyang (today’s Lianzhou) in the Eastern Han. Famous as a child for recall; later grand minister of ceremonies and minister of works. Gazetteers say villagers built a Minister Tang temple. An early Lianzhou native who enters the standard histories.
Lianzhou