Liú Bǐng 劉昞 (d. c. 440), zì Yánmíng 延明, of Dūnhuáng 燉煌 (modern Gānsù), was the leading Hexí 河西-corridor scholar of his generation and the principal philological figure of the late-Sixteen-Kingdoms western frontier. His career, recorded in Wèi shū 52 (with reference also in Bei shǐ 34), spans three sovereigns: he served first the Western Liáng 西涼 of Lǐ Gǎo 李暠 (r. 400–417) as Confucian-Academy Libationer 儒林祭酒 (the title under which the Sìkù recension of his Rénwù zhì commentary still circulates); after the Western Liáng’s collapse, he served the Northern Liáng 北涼 of Jǔqú Méngxùn 沮渠蒙遜 as Imperial Library Gentleman 祕書郎 (mìshūláng) with sole charge of the records (zhuān guǎn zhù jì 專管注記); and following the Northern Wèi conquest of the Hexí corridor in 439 CE, he was given the post of Lèpíng cóngshì zhōngláng 樂平從事中郎 under Emperor Tàiwǔ 太武帝 — though he died shortly thereafter, in old age. Wilkinson (Chinese History: A New Manual §49.6.1) notes him principally for his lost Lüèjì 略記, an abridged condensation of the Sānshǐ 三史 (the Shǐjì, Hàn shū, and Dōngguān Hàn jì), said to have been undertaken because he found their style “prolix” 繁. His other works included a Jiǔzhōu zhì 九州志 (gazetteer in geographical form, much of which survives in citations in the Tàipíng yùlǎn and the Shuǐjīng zhù), commentaries on the Lúnyǔ and Xiàojīng, and the surviving brief commentary on Liú Shào’s Rénwù zhì 人物志 (KR3j0011) — terse, focussed on overall sense rather than glossing detail, and (in the judgement of the Sìkù editors) preserving still the manner of the WèiJìn period.