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Li Daoyuan
Northern Wei official from Fanyang who wrote the Commentary on the Water Classic and was killed by Xiao Baoyin while on a mission to the west in 527
On an observatory terrace at night, a large bronze armillary sphere stands on a stone base while two people stand with their backs turned facing the view; stars are joined into constellation lines overhead, and a sundial and tiered dripping water vessels stand at the right.
Also known as Zi Shanzhang
Li Daoyuan, courtesy name Shanchang, came from Zhuo county in Fanyang (modern Zhuozhou, Hebei) and inherited his father Li Fan's title as Earl of Yongning. He served as aide in Jizhou, governor of Luyang and Dongjingzhou, and intendant of Henan, and the Book of Wei (Weishu) lists him among its harsh officials. In 525 he put down the revolt of Yuan Fasheng at Xuzhou, and as censor-in-chief he impeached the powerful without fear, earning the enmity of Yuan Yue, Prince of Runan. In 527 Yuan Yue had him sent as commissioner to the lands west of the passes; Xiao Baoyin, governor of Yongzhou, suspecting a plot, besieged him at the Yinpan post station and killed him with his brother and two sons. His Commentary on the Water Classic (Shuijing zhu), in forty chapters, describes the waterways of the realm and the places along them. Collations by Quan Zuwang, Zhao Yiqing and Dai Zhen in the Qing and Yang Shoujing's subcommentary made it the subject of a field called Li studies.
Life and times
Dates c. 466 CE–527 CE