刘向 / Liu Xiang

刘向 / Liu Xiang enters the wiki through 《资治通鉴·秦纪》119-2｜咱们都冤枉了背负2000多年黑锅的“叶公好龙” as the late Western Han compiler associated with 《新序》. The episode says the familiar 叶公好龙 story comes from the “杂事五” section of that text.

The source does not make Liu Xiang the villain of the story in a simple authorial sense. Its point is reception-historical: a compact didactic anecdote compiled for moral persuasion can outlive the original historical actor’s fuller record and turn 叶公 into a symbol of hypocrisy. Liu Xiang therefore becomes a node for how edited classical story collections shape later idiom memory.

Connections

• 《新序》 - text compiled by Liu Xiang in the episode’s account.
• 叶公好龙 and 叶公 - idiom and historical figure affected by the story.
• 典故来源辨伪 and 道德名声政治资本 - source-critical and reputation frames.