Lai Min ( 160s – 260s),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Jingda, was an official and scholar of the state of

Shu Han Han (; 221–263), known in historiography as Shu Han ( ) or Ji Han ( "Junior Han"), or often shortened to Shu (; pinyin: ''shŭ'' <

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...

period of China.

Life

Lai Min was from Xinye County (), Yiyang Commandery (), which is present-day

Xinye County Xinye () is one of the counties of Nanyang that lies in the southwest of Henan province, China. To the south lies the prefecture-level city of Xiangyang in Hubei province, to the east is Tanghe County and to the west is the county-level city of ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

. He was born sometime in the 160s during the

Eastern Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

. His ancestor was Lai Xi (來歙; died 35 CE), an official who served under

Emperor Guangwu Emperor Guangwu of Han (; 15 January 5 BC – 29 March AD 57), born Liu Xiu (), courtesy name Wenshu (), was a Chinese monarch. He served as an emperor of the Han dynasty by restoring the dynasty in AD 25, thus founding the Eastern Han (Later ...

( 25–57 CE), the first Eastern Han emperor. His father, Lai Yan (), was known for being studious and hospitable towards

retainers Retainer may refer to: * Retainer (orthodontics), devices for teeth * RFA ''Retainer'' (A329), a ship * Retainers in early China, a social group in early China Employment * Retainer agreement, a contract in which an employer pays in advance for ...

. Lai Yan served as a government official and rose to the position of Minister of Works () during the reign of Emperor Ling ( 168–189). When chaos broke out towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, Lai Min and his elder sister fled south to

Jing Province Jingzhou or Jing Province was one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China referenced in Chinese historical texts such as the ''Tribute of Yu'', '' Erya'' and '' Rites of Zhou''. Jingzhou became an administrative division during the reign of Empe ...

(covering present-day

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

and

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

) to evade trouble. Lai Min's elder sister married Huang Wan (), a nephew of the grandmother of Liu Zhang, the Governor of

Yi Province Yizhou (益州), Yi Province or Yi Prefecture, was a '' zhou'' (province) of ancient China. Its capital city was Chengdu.de Crespigny, p. 256. During the Han dynasty, it included the commanderies Hanzhong, Ba, Guanghan, Shu, Wenshan, Jianwei, ...

(covering present-day

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

and

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

). When Liu Zhang heard that they were in Jing Province, he sent people to fetch them to Yi Province. Lai Min followed his sister and brother-in-law to Yi Province, where Liu Zhang treated him like a guest. Lai Min was known for being well read, well-versed in the '' Zuo Zhuan'', and for specialising in lexicographical works such as the ''

Cangjiepian The ''Cangjiepian'', also known as the ''Three Chapters'' (, ''sāncāng''), was a BCE Chinese primer and a prototype for Chinese dictionaries. Li Si, Chancellor of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), compiled it for the purpose of reforming writte ...

'' and ''

Erya The ''Erya'' or ''Erh-ya'' is the first surviving Chinese dictionary. Bernhard Karlgren (1931:49) concluded that "the major part of its glosses must reasonably date from the 3rd century BC." Title Chinese scholars interpret the first title chara ...

''. In particular, he enjoyed studying ancient Chinese script styles. He frequently debated with Meng Guang, another guest scholar living in Yi Province, over the ''

Spring and Autumn Annals The ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' () is an ancient Chinese chronicle that has been one of the core Chinese classics since ancient times. The ''Annals'' is the official chronicle of the State of Lu, and covers a 241-year period from 722 to 481 ...

'' (''Chunqiu'') as each of them preferred a different commentary on the ''Chunqiu'': Lai Min and Meng Guang specialised in the ''Zuo Zhuan'' and ''

Gongyang Zhuan The ''Gongyang Zhuan'' (), also known as the ''Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals'' or the ''Commentary of Gongyang'', is a commentary on the ''Spring and Autumn Annals'', and is thus one of the Chinese classics. Along with the '' ...

'' respectively. Meng Guang was notorious for being loud and annoying during his debates with Lai Min. In 214, after the warlord

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Although he was a distant relative of the H ...

seized control of Yi Province from Liu Zhang, he recruited Lai Min to serve in the education office of his administration. During this time, Lai Min worked with a group of scholars on the codification of procedures and rituals. However, the project ended up dissolving into squabbles. Following the end of the

in 220, Lai Min served in the state of

Shu Han Han (; 221–263), known in historiography as Shu Han ( ) or Ji Han ( "Junior Han"), or often shortened to Shu (; pinyin: ''shŭ'' <

period. Liu Bei appointed him as Household Steward () to take care of

Liu Shan Liu Shan () (207–271), courtesy name Gongsi, was the second and last emperor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. As he ascended the throne at the age of 16, Liu Shan was entrusted to the care of the Chancellor Zhuge Lia ...

, the Crown Prince. When Liu Bei died in 223, Liu Shan succeeded his father as the emperor of Shu. After his coronation, Liu Shan appointed Lai Min as a General of the Household () in the ''Huben'' (虎賁; "Rapid as Tigers") division of the imperial guards. Between 227 and 234,

Zhuge Liang Zhuge Liang ( zh, t=諸葛亮 / 诸葛亮) (181 – September 234), courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman and military strategist. He was chancellor and later regent of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He is r ...

, the Imperial Chancellor of Shu, launched a series of military campaigns against Shu's rival state, Wei. Hanzhong Commandery served as the base for launching each campaign. During this time, Zhuge Liang summoned Lai Min to Hanzhong Commandery and appointed him as an Army Libationer () and General Who Assists the Army () to assist him in the campaigns. Lai Min was later stripped of his appointments for committing an offence. Zhuge Liang wrote in a memo why he decided to fire Lai Min: Following Zhuge Liang's death in 234, Lai Min returned to

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

, the Shu imperial capital, to serve as the Empress's Chamberlain (). He was fired again later. After some time, he was recalled back to serve as a Household Counsellor (), but was removed from office again shortly after. Throughout his career, he was demoted or fired several times, either because he had no filter when he spoke or because he behaved inappropriately. At the time, Lai Min's old debating rival, Meng Guang, was as equally notorious for being unbridled in his speech and was, in some ways, worse than Lai Min in this regard. Meng Guang not only carelessly divulged state secrets (probably due to a slip of the tongue), but also discussed politics in an inappropriate setting. Nevertheless, both of them got off lightly because they held much prestige among the literati for their status as learned Confucian scholars. Lai Min, in particular, came from an elite family background and had previously served as an attendant to the Shu emperor

when the emperor was still crown prince, therefore he was able to return to service every time after he got fired. After Lai Min's string of incidents, the Shu government specially appointed him as General Who Behaves Cautiously (). The name of his position was meant to remind him to be mindful of his speech and conduct. He died sometime between 258 and 263 at the age of 97 (by

East Asian age reckoning Countries in the East Asian cultural sphere (China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and their diasporas) have traditionally used specific methods of reckoning a person's numerical age based not on their birthday but the calendar year, and what age one is ...

Family

Lai Min's son, Lai Zhong (), was known for being well-versed in Confucian studies and resembling his father in character. Lai Zhong and Xiang Chong once praised the Shu general

Jiang Wei Jiang Wei (202 – 3 March 264), courtesy name Boyue, was a military general of the state of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in Ji County (present-day Gangu County, Gansu), Jiang Wei started his career as a military officer ...

, who was so pleased that he recruited them to serve as Army Advisers () under him.(子忠，亦博覽經學，有敏風，與尚書向充等並能協贊大將軍姜維。維善之，以為參軍。) ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 42.

Notes

References

* Chen, Shou (3rd century). ''

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...

'' (''Sanguozhi''). * * Pei, Songzhi (5th century). ''

Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms () by Pei Songzhi (372-451) is an annotation completed in the 5th century of the 3rd century historical text ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', compiled by Chen Shou. After leaving his native land, Pei ...

'' (''Sanguozhi zhu''). * Sima, Guang (1084). ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...

''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lai, Min 2nd-century births 3rd-century deaths Shu Han government officials Politicians from Nanyang, Henan Government officials under Liu Bei

Life

Family

See also

Notes

References