Lingxian Liu

Background

Liu Lingxian was born in Shandong province, but there is no exact information about the date of her birth. She was a daughter of Liu Hui. It is said that more than seventy of her brothers, cousins, and nephews were talented writers.

Career

Liu Lingxian, also known as The Third Miss Liu, was married to Xu Fei. Xu Fei died in office and when his cortege returned to the capital Jiankang (present-day Nanjing), Liu Lingxian wrote an elegiac oratory (jiwen) expressing her anguish.

Ten of Liu Lingxian’s poems and her most famous work, the elegiac oratory for her husband, have survived and are gathered in Xie Wuliang’s book on the history of the literature of Chinese women. She also wrote a poem to her husband's mistress — Tang Niang. There was no specific prohibition in early pre-modern China against respectable women befriending courtesans, but such conduct was rare. This may be the earliest example of just such a cross-societal relationship. Sharing a love for the same man might have prompted Liu Lingxian to take this unusual action.

Achievements

• Liu Lingxian was known as one of the outstanding characters in Chinese literature. She was a famous poet whose elegiacs have survived and well known these days.

Connections

Liu Lingxian was a wife of Xu Fei, but he died soon after the marriage. Liu Lingxian was probably still young when her husband died and would have lived as a widow for a number of years after his death. She had no children.

Father:

Liu Hui

Liu Hui was an official with the Southern Qi.

Brother:

Liu Xiaozhuo

Liu Xiaozhuo was a Chinese poet.

husband:

Xu Fei

Xu Fei was Governor of Jin’an Commandery.

References

• New Songs from a Jade Terrace: An Anthology of Early Chinese Love Poetry Translated from Chinese by Anne Birrell.
  1987
• Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. - 618 C.E This new volume of the "Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women" spans more than 2,000 years from antiquity to the early seventh century. It recovers the stories of more than 200 women, nearly all of them unknown in the West.
  1998