北宋水利专家刘彝生平考论

The Life of the Irrigationist Liu Yi in the Northern Song Dynasty

近年来,因为江西赣州古城的地下排水系统福寿沟受到较多的关注,所以其主持修建者刘彝屡屡被世人提及。但是,关于刘彝的生平信息,错讹颇多。刘彝实际上生于公元1022年,而非很多资料所说的公元1017年。刘彝生于世家,受学胡瑗,入仕后历任要职,但并未担任类似现在的"水利部副部长"一职。刘彝每到一地,造福一方,是当时为官的典范,尤其因为主持修建了福泽千年的福寿沟,更为后人所称赞。刘彝与中越熙宁战争的爆发有一定的关系,但不应受到过分谴责,不应负主要责任。从总体来看,刘彝仍不失为一名杰出的水利专家及政治家。

Liu Yi,the designer of the famous underground drainage syestem of longevity ditch in Gan-zhou,received a lot of attention in recent years.Yet a lot of information about his life were wrong.In fact,Liu Yi was born in 1022,but not in 1017,as many books have recorded.Liu Yi was born in an official family for generations and was a proud disciple of Hu Yuan.Liu Yi has held many important po-sitions,but he did not act as the Deputy Minister of Ministry of Water Resources.Liu Yi has done a lot of good things for the people,and was regarded as an example to the officials.Especially because Liu Yi designed Longevity Ditch,he praised by many people.Liu Yi has a certain relationship with the outbreak of the Xinning war between China and Vietnam.However,Liu Yi was not primarily responsible for the war and should not be too much condemned.On the whole,Liu Yi is an outstanding irrigationist and politician.