Ministers › Statesman / Official
Pan Jixun
Wucheng official put in charge of the Yellow River four times over twenty-seven years, who built dikes to narrow the channel so that the current would scour away its own silt
In the courtyard of a district government hall, a line of petitioners waits before a raised bench with a long table and document boxes; a blue umbrella stands beside it, a large drum stands at the gate where a few people wait, and a lake with sailboats lies beyond.
Also known as Zi Shiliang · Hao Yinchuan
- Roles
- Statesman / Official
Pan Jixun, courtesy name Shiliang, came from Wucheng in Zhejiang and gained his jinshi in 1550. He was first put in charge of the rivers in 1565, cutting a new canal with Zhu Heng, and returned in 1570 to close the breach at Pizhou. Appointed a third time in 1578, he argued that the clear Huai was weak and the silty Yellow River strong, and he raised the Gaojia embankment to force the Huai out at Qingkou so that its clear water would flush the Yellow River's silt, finishing the work the next year. When Zhang Juzheng's family was imprisoned after his death, Pan pleaded for leniency, was accused of shielding Zhang and was dismissed to commoner status. Recalled to direct river works in 1588, he left office after the Sizhou floods of 1592 and died at home three years later, aged seventy-five. His Overview of River Defence (Hefang yilan) sets out his method of using the current to scour the channel.
Life and times
Dates 1521 CE–1595 CE