| NAME | |
|---|---|
| Chinese Name | 刘元起, 劉元起, Liú Yuánqǐ |
| Nickname | Clan uncle who first backed Liu Bei |
| Other name | Lưu Nguyên Khởi |
| INFORMATION | |
| Birth Place | Zhuo County, Zhuo (Zhuozhou, Hebei) |
| Death Reason | Unrecorded; no later office survives in Shu 2 |
| FAMILY | |
| Father | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Relatives | |
| CAREER | |
| Allegiance | Eastern Han (Zhuo Liu clan) |
| Battles | Not a combatant. Chapter 1 is the school-fee scene before the Yellow Turban levy. |
Biography & Historical Record
Liu Yuanqi (刘元起, Lưu Nguyên Khởi) of Zhuo County, Zhuo commandery, was a clan uncle of Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị) — father of Liu Bei’s study-mate Liu Deran (刘德然, Lưu Đức Nhiên). Import text that calls him “wife of Ren Wei” is a gender-and-person error; 刘元起 is a man of the Zhuo Liu house. Chen Shou’s Sanguozhi Shu 2 says that when Liu Bei was fifteen his mother sent him out to study with Liu Deran and the Liaoxi youth Gongsun Zan (公孙瓒, Công Tôn Toản) under the former Administrator of Jiujiang, fellow-countryman Lu Zhi (卢植, Lư Thực), courtesy Zigan (子干, Tử Cán). Liu Yuanqi paid Liu Bei’s keep at the same rate as his own son’s. His wife objected: “Each household is separate — how can we keep doing this?” He answered, “This boy of our clan is no ordinary man.” That sentence is the first recorded recognition of Liu Bei in the official history — before merchants Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang funded a following, before the Peach Garden.
The same Shu 2 paragraph also names another uncle, Liu Zijing (刘子敬, Lưu Tử Kính), who panicked when the boy pointed at the five-zhang mulberry and said he would ride a feather-canopy chariot: “Do not speak wildly — you will destroy our house.” Yuanqi’s generosity and Zijing’s fear are two sides of one Zhuo family watching a fatherless cadet. Yuanqi’s later career is unrecorded; Deran never appears in Liu Bei’s armies. The historical weight of the name is the subsidy and the judgment, not a battlefield command.
Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Chapter 1 (Three Heroes Swear Brotherhood in the Peach Garden; One Victory Shatters the Yellow Turbans): After the invented imperial pedigree (Liu Xiong as Fan magistrate, Liu Hong as father who “did not serve”), the novel retells the cottage youth of Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị): mats, sandals, the mulberry like a chariot canopy, the boast, uncle Zijing’s warning. Then the study: Liu Bei, Liu Deran, and Gongsun Zan (公孙瓒, Công Tôn Toản) under Lu Zhi (卢植, Lư Thực). Liu Yuanqi (刘元起, Lưu Nguyên Khởi) funds both boys equally; his wife scolds the expense; he answers that the clan child is not ordinary. Only after that recognition do Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang give gold, and only then do Guan Yu (关羽, Quan Vũ) and Zhang Fei (张飞, Trương Phi) enter for the peach-garden oath. Yuanqi never rides to Guangzong; his scene is the family table that makes the later “imperial uncle” possible.
Liu Yuanqi (刘元起) — Historical & Literary Timeline
Funds Liu Bei at Lu Zhi’s school
Liu Bei is fifteen. Yuanqi pays his board equal to son Liu Deran’s. Wife objects; he calls the boy extraordinary. Gongsun Zan, older, is treated as a brother by Liu Bei.
Mulberry and Zijing
Another uncle, Liu Zijing, silences the feather-canopy boast. Yuanqi’s cash and Zijing’s fear frame the same Zhuo household.
Novel retells the subsidy
Romance copies Shu 2 almost verbatim, then moves straight to the merchants and the Peach Garden. Yuanqi has no Yellow Turban command.
Notice in Shu 2; see also the Liu Bei youth section of the 刘备 article.
Key Relationships
Family
- Son Liu Deran (刘德然, Lưu Đức Nhiên): schoolmate of Liu Bei under Lu Zhi; later life unrecorded. No site post.
- Wife (unnamed): objects to paying a cousin’s fees; her protest is the foil for Yuanqi’s judgment.
- Clan nephew Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị): fatherless Zhuo cadet whom Yuanqi treated as his own son at school.
- Fellow uncle Liu Zijing (刘子敬, Lưu Tử Kính): warns against the chariot boast. Custom wiki — no dedicated post.
- Father (standard 叔父 reading) Liu Xiong (刘雄, Lưu Hùng): Fan magistrate; same Zhuo stem as Liu Bei’s grandfather.
- Brother Liu Hong (刘弘, Lưu Hoằng): Liu Bei’s father. Not the Jin inspector on /liu-hong/.
Friends
- Lu Zhi (卢植, Lư Thực): the teacher Yuanqi paid for. Former Jiujiang administrator, later a Han pillar against the Ten Attendants.
- Gongsun Zan (公孙瓒, Công Tôn Toản): older schoolmate; Liu Bei treated him as an elder brother — the bond Yuanqi’s fees made possible.
Enemies
- No personal foe. His conflict is domestic: a wife who sees a poor cousin, against an uncle who sees a clan prodigy.
Other
- Zhang Shiping (张世平, Trương Thế Bình) and Su Shuang (苏双, Tô Song): Zhongshan horse merchants who next fund Liu Bei — the commercial sequel to Yuanqi’s family subsidy.
- Guan Yu (关羽, Quan Vũ) and Zhang Fei (张飞, Trương Phi): enter Chapter 1 only after the school-and-subsidy paragraph.
In Novel
Chapter 1
- Liu Yuanqi (刘元起, Lưu Nguyên Khởi): After Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị)'s mulberry boast and uncle Liu Zijing (刘子敬, Lưu Tử Kính)'s warning, the boy is sent at fifteen to study under Lu Zhi (卢植, Lư Thực) with Liu Deran (刘德然, Lưu Đức Nhiên) and Gongsun Zan (公孙瓚, Công Tôn Toản). Yuanqi pays Liu Bei at his own son's rate. His wife says the households are separate; he answers that this clan boy is no ordinary man. The novel then turns to the Zhongshan merchants and the Peach Garden — Yuanqi does not ride against the Yellow Turbans.
In History
Summary
- Liu Yuanqi (刘元起, Lưu Nguyên Khởi) of Zhuo was Liu Bei's clan uncle and Liu Deran's father. He is the first person in Shu 2 to call Liu Bei extraordinary, and he paid for that judgment in hard cash.
Year: c. 175
- Liu Bei, fifteen, studies with Deran and Gongsun Zan under Lu Zhi. Yuanqi equalizes the two boys' support; his wife protests; he holds the line.
Historical Record
- Sanguozhi Shu 2: 年十五，母使行学，与同宗刘德然、辽西公孙瓚俱事故九江太守同郡卢植。德然父元起常资给先主，与德然等。元起妻曰：「各自一家，何能常尔邪！」起曰：「吾宗中有此儿，非常人也。」 No later office or death year survives.
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