Bing Yuan 邴原

Bing Yuan, courtesy name Genju, was a man of Zhuxu County in the state of Beihai. In his youth he was praised together with Guan Ning for integrity and conduct, and though the province and commandery summoned him he never took office. The Biography of Guan Ning records that Guan Ning befriended Hua Xin of Pingyuan and Bing Yuan of the same county, and studied away from home together with them. Records, Wei 11 §68 · 76

When the Yellow Turbans rose, Bing Yuan took his household across the sea and stayed in the Yuzhou Mountains. At that time Kong Rong, then Chancellor of Beihai, recommended him under the category 'Possessing the Way', but Bing Yuan, saying that the Yellow Turbans were at the height of their power, in the end went to Liaodong. There is also a record that when Wang Xiu, who served under Kong Rong, was recommended as Filial and Incorrupt, he wished to yield the honour to Bing Yuan, but Kong Rong would not allow it. Records, Wei 11 §68 · 54–55

In Liaodong there was Liu Zheng, a man of the same commandery, whom Gongsun Du, Administrator of Liaodong, feared and hated and wished to kill, and he arrested Liu Zheng's whole family. Liu Zheng escaped and, driven into a corner, took refuge with Bing Yuan, who hid him for more than a month, and when Taishi Ci of Donglai happened to be returning home, Bing Yuan entrusted Liu Zheng to him. He then told Gongsun Du that since Liu Zheng had already left, the threat was gone; Liu Zheng had escaped disaster and would now put his wits to use, so there was no reason to hold his family and pile up more resentment. When Gongsun Du released the family, Bing Yuan provided them with travel funds so that they could all return to their home commandery. Records, Wei 11 §68–70

Within a single year of Bing Yuan's stay in Liaodong, several hundred households went to live near him, and the voices of travelling scholars and of teaching never ceased. Guo Yuan, Guan Ning, Wang Lie of Pingyuan and others also fled the disorder to Liaodong along with Bing Yuan, and at that time Wang Lie's fame stood above that of Bing Yuan and Guan Ning. Records, Wei 11 §70 · 29 · 76 · 79

When he was later able to return, Cao Cao summoned him and made him a clerk to the Minister of Works. Bing Yuan's daughter had died young, and since Cao Cao's beloved son Cao Chong had also died at that time, Cao Cao asked that the two be buried together. Bing Yuan declined, saying that such a joint burial was contrary to the rites, and that he was accepted and well treated only because he kept to the teachings and standards and did not change them; if he obeyed this order, he would become an ordinary man. Cao Cao dropped the matter and transferred him to the post of Consultant to the Chancellor. Records, Wei 11 §71

When Cui Yan was Officer of the Eastern Bureau, he recommended the Consultant Bing Yuan and the Gentleman-Consultant Zhang Fan, saying that their virtue was pure and fine and their aims and conduct loyal and upright, so that they were 'the dragon's plumes and the phoenix's wings, the precious treasures of the state.' The Biography of Zhang Fan records that whenever Cao Cao went on campaign he left Zhang Fan and Bing Yuan behind to guard the capital together with the heir, and told Cao Pi always to consult these two before acting, so that the heir treated them with the courtesy of a son or grandson. Records, Wei 11 §72 · 21

Bing Yuan became Chief Clerk to the General of the Household for All Purposes in place of Liang Mao; he kept his gate shut and held himself apart, and did not go out except on official business. He accompanied Cao Cao on his campaign against Wu and died. The Records does not give the year. Records, Wei 11 §72–73

In his assessment Chen Shou said that Yuan Huan, Bing Yuan and Zhang Fan walked the path of purity in their own persons and advanced and withdrew in accordance with the Way, so that they could be compared with Gong Yu and the two Gongs. Records, Wei 11 §111