Fan Zhongyan

Also known as Zi Xiwen · Wen Zheng

Fan Zhongyan, courtesy name Xiwen, came from a family originally of Binzhou that had settled in Wu county, Suzhou. Orphaned at two, he grew up in the Zhu household of Changshan after his mother remarried, studied hard at Yingtian and resumed the surname Fan only after passing the jinshi examination in 1015. Outspoken memorials repeatedly cost him office, first when he urged Empress Dowager Liu to return power to the emperor and later when he attacked the chief minister Lu Yijian. From 1040 he and Han Qi directed the defence of Shaanxi against the Xi Xia, building forts and training frontier troops. Made assistant chief minister in 1043, he submitted ten proposals on promotion, privilege, examinations and more, but opposition forced him out within a year and the reforms lapsed. In 1046, at Dengzhou, he wrote the Record of Yueyang Tower (Yueyanglou ji) for Teng Zongliang. He died in 1052 on the way to Yingzhou, was named Wenzheng, and Ouyang Xiu wrote his spirit-path inscription.