Fan Ye (398 – 23 January 446),
courtesy name
A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...
Weizong , was a Chinese historian, philosopher, and politician of the
Liu Song dynasty
Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern dynasties (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties peri ...
during the
Southern and Northern dynasties period. He was the compiler of the historical text ''
Book of the Later Han
The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Lat ...
''. The fourth son of
Fan Tai (), Fan Ye was born in present-day
Shaoxing
Shaoxing is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. Located on the south bank of the Qiantang River estuary, it borders Ningbo to the east, Taizhou, Zhejiang, Taizhou to the south ...
, Zhejiang, but his ancestral home was in
Nanyang, Henan. After his birth, he was made heir of another male relative Fan Hongzhi ().
He was a noted
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
who heavily criticised
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
,
Yin and Yang
Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary an ...
, and the concept of the
Mandate of Heaven
The Mandate of Heaven ( zh, t=天命, p=Tiānmìng, w=, l=Heaven's command) is a Chinese ideology#Political ideologies, political ideology that was used in History of China#Ancient China, Ancient China and Chinese Empire, Imperial China to legit ...
. To this end, he cited
Zhang Heng
Zhang Heng (; AD 78–139), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized Chang Heng, was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman who lived during the Han dynasty#Eastern Han (25–220 AD), Eastern Han dynasty. Educated in the capital citi ...
's scientific studies as evidence.
In January 446, Fan Ye was accused of rebellion and executed, along with many associates including his son Fan Ai ().
Appearance and personality
The ''Book of Song'' described Fan as "less than seven ''
chi'' in height, fat and dark in complexion, with no eyebrows or beard".
When Fan Ye was young, his elder brother Fan Yan (范晏) frequently mentioned that Fan Ye was drawn towards advancing his interests and that this habit would bring disaster to their clan, which was what eventually happened.
[(晔少时，兄晏常云：“此儿进利，终破门户。”终如晏言。) ''Song Shu'', vol.69]
References
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Further reading
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398 births
445 deaths
5th-century Chinese historians
5th-century Chinese philosophers
5th-century executions
People executed by a Northern and Southern dynasties state
Historians from Zhejiang
Jin dynasty (266–420) historians
Liu Song historians
Liu Song government officials
People executed by a Northern and Southern dynasties state by decapitation
People executed by Liu Song
Writers from Shaoxing
Biographers of ancient people
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