Fan Ye 范曄

Fan Ye 范曄 (398-445), courtesy name Weizong 蔚宗, from Shunyang 順陽 (today's Xichuan 淅川, Henan), was a general and historian of the early Southern Dynasties period 南朝 (420-589). He was the compiler of the official history of the Later Han period 後漢 (25-220 CE), the Houhanshu 後漢書.

Fan Ye was the son of the general Fan Tai 范泰 (355-428) and received an excellent education in all important fields, including literature, history, writing and calligraphy, and also music. He was instructed by his uncle Fan Hongzhi 范弘之 and inherited his father's title of 五興縣五等侯. With seventeen sui, he was offered the position of a recorder (zhubu 主簿) in the local administration, but he declined. Later on, he became a clerk (yuan 掾) of Counsellor-in-chief (xiangguo 相國) Liu Yu 劉裕 (363-422; Emperor Wu 宋武帝, r. 420-422) and retainer of the Minister of the Masses (situ congshi zhong 司徒從事中), and was then elevated to the position of Vice Director of the Imperial Library (mishu cheng 秘書丞), General of the Left Guard (zuo wei jiangjun 左衛將軍) and Supervisor of the Household of the Heir Apparent (taizi zhanshi 太子詹事). In such an important position, he used his insight to conspire with Kong Xianxi 孔先熙 to enthrone Liu Yikang 劉義康 (409-451), the Prince of Pengcheng 彭城, by killing Emperor Wen 文皇帝 (r. 424-453). In 445, the plan was revealed, and he was executed.

Fan Ye planned to integrate all existing books on the history of the Later Han dynasty into one authoritative book. His work was mainly based on the Donggguan hanji 東觀漢記, but it was not completed when he died. During the Liang period 梁 (502-557), Liu Zhao 劉昭 supplemented the incomplete version with the treatises on statecraft in Sima Biao's 司馬彪 (240-306) Xu hanshu and added commentaries.

Fan's collected writings are lost. Apart from the Houhanshu, some pieces have survived, as for instance, a letter (Yuzhong yu zhusheng-zhi shu 獄中與諸甥侄書) and the poem Leyou ying zhao 樂游應詔.