Southern Sòng 宋 classical scholar, native of Wùzhōu 婺州 (modern Jīnhuá 金華 / Lánxī 蘭溪 / Dōngyáng 東陽 area, Zhèjiāng), with the Sìkù tíyào of his master’s Zēngxiū Dōnglái shū shuō 增修東萊書說 (KR1b0013) noting his hometown as Qīngjiāng 清江 within Wùzhōu — likely a creek-side village in the same prefecture, since CBDB id 21038 records his addresses as Jīnhuá, Dōngyáng and Lánxī. Lifedates 1156–1222 are firm. He came from a substantial Wùzhōu lineage of Lǚ Zǔqiān disciples: his elder kinsman Shí Zhù 時鑄 (zì Shòuqīng 壽卿) had been a tóngnián jìnshì 同年進士 with Lǚ Zǔqiān, and Shí Zhù together with his brother Shí Chàng 時鋹 led ten or more clansmen in studying under Lǚ. The most distinguished of them — explicitly named in Wú Shīdào’s 吳師道 SòngYuán xué àn 宋元學案 entry — were Shí Yún 時澐, Shí Lán himself, and Shí Jīng 時涇.
Shí Lán was Lǚ Zǔqiān’s leading disciple. After Lǚ’s death in 1181 he made it his life’s project to complete and refine the Dōnglái shū shuō 東萊書說: his master’s actual exposition covered only “Luò gào” 洛誥 through “Qín shì” 秦誓, with the earlier portions (堯典 down to the close of “Shào gào” 召誥) surviving only in disciples’ rough notes. Shí Lán polished the lecture-notes into 22 juǎn and recast Lǚ’s original into 13 juǎn, combining them into the 35-juǎn received recension, which he prefaced in Kāixī 3 / 1207 (開禧丁卯). His official career was modest: he entered service as jiānchéng 監丞 of the Sānshān 三山 (Fúzhōu) Imperial Academy via the 西邸文學 examination route (so his self-preface), and ended as cóngzhèng láng 從政郎 ranked jiàoshòu 教授 at the Western Outer Mùzōng Yuàn Zōngxué 西外睦宗院宗學, per Zhōu Bìdà’s 周必大 funerary text in his Píngyuán jí 平園集. He also wrote his own Shàngshū commentary, the Zēngxiū shū shuō 增修書說 in 30 juǎn (recorded in Zhū Yízūn’s Jīngyì kǎo 經義考 as separately extant but not seen by the Sìkù compilers). The single-poem entry under his name in Lì È’s 厲鶚 Sòng shī jì shì 宋詩紀事 attests to his minor stature as a literary figure outside his role as Lǚ-school transmitter.
He should not be confused with the Wáng Lán-school 王學 figure 王時瀾 of the late Sòng.