E Liu

Born on October 18, 1857, Liu E was a Chinese writer, antiquarian, and government official during the late Qing dynasty. He is most famous for The Travels of Lao Can, a novel published in the early 1900s that became one of the best-known works of its era for its blend of travel narrative, satire, and concern for ordinary people.

Liu E's life reached far beyond literature. Sources describe him as active in public service and economic projects, and also as an important early collector and student of oracle-bone inscriptions, which helped preserve materials that later became central to the study of ancient Chinese writing. That mix of practical affairs and scholarly curiosity gives his work a distinctive, observant tone.

He died on August 23, 1909, in Xinjiang. Today he is remembered not only as a novelist, but as a perceptive witness to a troubled moment in Chinese history, writing with empathy, irony, and a strong sense that society could do better.