ChinaKnowledge.de -
An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art

Mei Fu 梅福

Jan 24, 2012 © Ulrich Theobald

Mei Fu 梅福, courtesy name Zizhen 子真, was a scholar of the late Former Han period 前漢 (206 BCE-8 CE).

He hailed from Shouchun 壽春 (modern Shouxian 壽縣, Anhui) but studied in Chang'an (modern Xi'an, Shaanxi) the Confucian Classics Shangshu 尚書 "Book of Documents" and the Guliang Commentary 穀梁傳 to the Chunqiu 春秋 "Spring and Autumn Annals".

He was later appointed educational instructor (wenxue 文學) and commandant (wei 尉) of the commandery of Nanchang 南昌, but then returned to private life. During the reign of Emperor Cheng 漢成帝 (r. 33-7 BCE) he several times submitted memorials criticising the powerful general Wang Feng 王風. This impeded him from any further office, so that he began to wander around as a private teacher, changed his name and finally settled down in the region of Wu 吳 (around modern Suzhou 蘇州, Jiangsu).

Source:
Cang Xiuliang 倉修良, ed. (1996). Hanshu cidian 漢書辭典 (Jinan: Shandong jiaoyu chubanshe), 623.