Yu Fan 虞翻

Yu Fan, courtesy name Zhongxiang, was a man of Yuyao County in Kuaiji Commandery. Wang Lang, Administrator of Kuaiji, made him Officer of Merit (gongcao). When Sun Ce came to attack Kuaiji, Yu Fan was in mourning for his father, but he took off his mourning clothes, went in, and urged Wang Lang to avoid Sun Ce. The biography of Wang Lang records that Yu Fan held that since they had not the strength to resist, it would be better to avoid him, but that Wang Lang, saying that as an official of Han he must defend his city, raised troops and fought. Records, Wu 12 §2Records, Wei 13 §45

Wang Lang was defeated and fled by sea, and Yu Fan followed to guard him as far as Houguan in the eastern division. When the Chief of Houguan shut the city gates and would not let them in, Yu Fan went and persuaded him to admit them. Wang Lang told him that since he had an aged mother he could go home, and when Yu Fan returned, Sun Ce again made him Officer of Merit, treated him with the courtesy of a friend, and visited his house in person. Records, Wu 12 §2–3

Since Sun Ce loved to gallop about hunting, Yu Fan remonstrated that in gathering scattered followers and getting them to give their lives for him not even Emperor Gao of Han could match him, but that when he went out lightly and incognito the officials and soldiers attending him suffered, and that a ruler without gravity has no majesty. Sun Ce said his words were right, but replied that when he had things to think over, sitting still made him restless, and so he went out. Yu Fan went out to become Chief of Fuchun. Records, Wu 12 §4

When Sun Ce died, the senior officials of the counties all wished to hasten to the mourning, but Yu Fan, fearing that the mountain people of neighbouring counties might rise in revolt, stayed in his county and observed the mourning there in mourning clothes; the other counties followed his example, and all remained at peace. Later he was recommended by the province as Abundant Talent (maocai), summoned by the Han court as Attendant Imperial Clerk, and summoned by Cao Cao when Cao Cao became Minister of Works, but he took up none of these posts. Records, Wu 12 §5

Yu Fan wrote to Kong Rong, the Privy Treasurer, and showed him the Commentary on the Changes he had written. Kong Rong replied that he now knew that the fine things of the southeast were not only the bamboo arrows of Kuaiji, and Zhang Hong, Chief Commandant of the Eastern Division of Kuaiji, also wrote to Kong Rong that Yu Fan had once been much maligned, but that, being a fine jewel by nature, the more he was carved and polished the more he shone. Records, Wu 12 §6

Sun Quan made him Chief Commandant of Cavalry (qi duwei), but Yu Fan repeatedly remonstrated in defiance of his displeasure and could not please Sun Quan, and since his temperament did not fit in with the world he was often slandered, until he was found guilty and moved to Jing County in Danyang Commandery. When Lü Meng, planning to attack Guan Yu, returned to Jianye pleading illness, he asked to take Yu Fan along on the ground that he also knew medicine, intending also to get Yu Fan released in this way. When Mi Fang, Administrator of Nan Commandery, opened the city gates and surrendered and Lü Meng, instead of entering the city, had music played on the sandbank, Yu Fan told him that not everyone in the city could be trusted and that he should go in quickly and take control of the keys. Lü Meng followed this advice, and a plot to ambush him that had been laid in the city could not be carried out. Records, Wu 12 §7–8

After Guan Yu's defeat, Sun Quan had Yu Fan divine by the Changes; seeing that the fifth line of the hexagram Jie changed to give the hexagram Lin, Yu Fan said that within two days his head would surely be cut off, and it turned out just as he said. Sun Quan said that though he did not match Fu Xi, he could be compared with Dongfang Shuo. When Sun Quan released the captive Wei general Yu Jin and rode with him side by side, Yu Fan, asking how a surrendered captive dared ride abreast of their lord, tried to strike him with his whip. Later, at a drinking party on a towered ship, when Yu Jin wept on hearing the music, Yu Fan rebuked him for trying to escape punishment by pretense, which displeased Sun Quan. Records, Wu 12 §8–9

After Sun Quan became King of Wu, at the end of a banquet he went round pouring wine himself, and Yu Fan lay prostrate on the ground pretending to be drunk and did not take the cup, then sat up once Sun Quan had passed. Sun Quan, in a great rage, took up his sword to strike him, but the Grand Minister of Agriculture Liu Ji threw his arms around Sun Quan and remonstrated that he must not kill a worthy scholar after three cups of wine. When Sun Quan said, 'Even Cao Mengde killed Kong Wenju,' Liu Ji said that the Great King should not compare himself to that man, and Yu Fan escaped death. Because of this affair Sun Quan instructed those around him that from then on, if he ordered someone killed after drinking, they were not to carry it out. Records, Wu 12 §10–11Records, Wu 4 §14

When Yu Fan, travelling by boat, met Mi Fang, he rebuked him: 'Having lost loyalty and good faith, with what will you serve your lord? Is it right to call yourself a general after bringing down two cities and handing them to another?' Later, when the gate of Mi Fang's camp was shut and Yu Fan's carriage could not pass, he rebuked him for opening when he should shut and shutting when he should open, and Mi Fang was ashamed. Records, Wu 12 §12–13

Yu Fan was careless and blunt by nature and often committed faults in his cups. When Sun Quan was discussing immortals with Zhang Zhao, Yu Fan pointed at Zhang Zhao and said, 'They are all dead men, yet you talk of immortals. How could there be immortals in the world!' Sun Quan, whose anger had built up, finally moved him to Jiao Province. According to the biography of Zhuge Jin, when Yu Fan was banished, only Zhuge Jin repeatedly spoke up for him. Records, Wu 12 §13Records, Wu 7 §57

Even in banishment Yu Fan never tired of lecturing, and his disciples always numbered several hundred; he wrote glosses and commentaries on the Laozi, the Analects and the Discourses of the States, all of which were handed down in the world. Ding Lan of Shanyin and Xu Ling of Taimo he befriended at first sight, and both eventually became famous. He lived in the south for more than ten years and died at the age of seventy; he was brought back and buried in the old family graveyard, and his wife and children were allowed to return. The Records does not give the year of his death. He had eleven sons, of whom the fourth, Yu Si, was the most renowned. Records, Wu 12 §13–14 · 16

In his assessment, Chen Shou wrote that Yu Fan was like the wildly upright men of old, so that it was only natural that he could hardly escape misfortune in a declining age, but that Sun Quan's inability to tolerate him was not a sign of a generous spirit. Records, Wu 12 §89