Liu Shipei

Liu Shipei (1884–1919), courtesy name Shenshu and style name Zuo'an, was a native of Yizheng, Jiangsu, born into a family of classical scholars. A master of Old Text Confucian classics in the late Qing and early Republican era, he engaged in democratic revolution in his early years, promoted anarchism, and later was appointed professor at Peking University. A prolific author, Liu made significant achievements in Confucian classics, philology, historiography, and literature, and is honored as the last standard-bearer of the Yangzhou School. His works include studies of Chinese academic history over the past three centuries, lectures on the history of medieval Chinese literature, and reading notes, reflecting both his textual scholarship and his broad erudition across classics, history, and belles-lettres.