Bì Yuán 畢沅 (1730–1797), zì Xiāngduó 纕蘀, hào Qiūfān 秋帆 and Língyán shānrén 靈巖山人. Native of Zhènyáng 鎮洋 in Tàicāng 太倉 prefecture (Jiāngsū). One of the most distinguished mid-Qīng provincial officials and scholarly patrons. Jìnshì of Qiánlóng 25 (1760, optimus / zhuàngyuán), he served successively as Governor of Shǎnxī (1773–1785, with intervals), Governor-General of HúGuǎng (1788, 1794–1797), and other senior posts. As governor of Shǎnxī he gathered around him a brain-trust of leading kǎojù scholars (Zhāng Xuéchéng 章學誠, Hóng Lìjí 洪亮吉, Wāng Zhōng 汪中, Sūn Xīngyǎn 孫星衍 et al.) and produced a series of major historical-philological projects: the comprehensive chronological history Xù Zīzhì tōngjiàn 續資治通鑑 (KR2a0023) covering Sòng–Yuán; the philological gazetteer Guānzhōng shèngjì túzhì 關中勝蹟圖志 (KR2k0103); annotations to the Lǎozǐ Dàodé jīng and Mòzǐ; the Sānfǔ huángtú jiàoshì; and the Cháng’ān zhì jiào jì. Two years after his death he was posthumously stripped of titles and his property confiscated due to involvement in the White-Lotus campaign frauds; subsequently rehabilitated in part. CBDB id 34013.