Liu Zhen 劉楨

Liu Zhen, courtesy name Gonggan, was a native of Dongping. The Records appends him, together with Ying Chang, to the end of the Biography of Wang Can. Earlier, when Cao Pi became General of the Household for All Purposes, he and Cao Zhi, Marquis of Pingyuan, were both fond of literature, and Wang Can, together with Xu Gan of Beihai, Chen Lin of Guangling, Ruan Yu of Chenliu, Ying Chang of Runan and Liu Zhen of Dongping, was treated by them as a close friend. Records, Wei 21 §9 · 18

Ying Chang and Liu Zhen were each summoned by Cao Cao and became Clerks on the Chancellor's staff. Liu Zhen was punished for disrespect, and after serving out his sentence he was appointed an official. Both wrote several dozen prose pieces and rhapsodies. Records, Wei 21 §19

When Cao Cao was carefully selecting the household officials for his sons, he made Xing Yong Household Assistant to Cao Zhi, Marquis of Pingyuan; Xing Yong kept Cao Zhi in check with propriety and would not bend in the least, so the two did not get along. At that time Liu Zhen, then a Household Cadet (shuzi), sent a letter to Cao Zhi saying that Xing Yong was an outstanding scholar of the northern lands, a truly refined gentleman of few words but much reason, and that he himself was not fit to stand beside him. Yet he received exceptional courtesy while Xing Yong was treated with neglect, and he remonstrated that he secretly feared onlookers would say that His Lordship picked the spring blossoms of his Cadet while forgetting the autumn fruit of his Household Assistant, and that he could not sleep for it. Records, Wei 12 §61–62

The Biography of Zhou Xuan records that Liu Zhen dreamed of a snake that grew four legs and lived in a burrow inside his gate, and had Zhou Xuan interpret it. Zhou Xuan said that it was a dream concerning the state, not the affairs of his household, and that a woman who had become a bandit would be killed. Before long the female bandits Zheng and Jiang were both suppressed. Records, Wei 29 §48

Ruan Yu died in the 17th year of Jian'an (212), and Xu Gan, Chen Lin, Ying Chang and Liu Zhen died in the 22nd year (217). In a letter to Wu Zhi, Prefect of Yuancheng, Cao Pi wrote that an epidemic had spread the previous year and Xu Gan, Chen Lin, Ying Chang and Liu Zhen had all passed away at once, and, appraising their writings one by one, judged that 'Gonggan has an untrammeled spirit, but it is not yet vigorous.' The letter closes by saying that they merely fell short of the ancients, yet were still the outstanding men of their age. Records, Wei 21 §20–22

In the admonitions he left to his sons and nephews, Wang Chang said, 'Liu Gonggan of Dongping was broadly learned and highly talented, with sincere integrity and great aspirations,' but added that his character and conduct were uneven and he had few scruples, so that his merits and failings balanced each other; Wang Chang himself cherished and valued him, but did not wish his sons to emulate him. Records, Wei 27 §36

In the assessment of the volume containing Wang Can and the others, Chen Shou said that Emperor Wen and the Prince of Chen, in their noble status as princes, broadly loved literary grace, so that talented men came forth together, and among them six men, Wang Can and the others, were the most renowned. Records, Wei 21 §99