Fan Zhongyan (October 1, 989-June 19, 1052), the word Xiwen, posthumous title of Wen Zheng, also known as Fan Lushuang. Politician, litterateur, militarist, and educator of the Northern Song Dynasty. He lived in Binzhou (now Binxian County/Bin County in Shaanxi Province) and later moved to Jiangnan and was a native of Wuxian County, Suzhou (now Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province).

Fan Zhongyan was born in Suzhou on October 1, 989 (August 29, the second year of Duangong). His father Fan Yong passed away unfortunately the following year (990). His mother Xie took Fan Zhongyan to bury Fan Yong's coffin in the Fan family's ancestral tomb in Tianping Mountain, his hometown in Suzhou. He temporarily stayed in a nearby Manbo Nunnery, wanting to guard the spirit for three years. However, because the Fan family in Suzhou did not accept Fan Zhongyan's mother and son, they abandoned them. The orphan and widow mother were poor and had no one to rely on. In desperation, Xie remarried to Zhu Wenhan, who was then an official in Pingjiang Prefecture (now Wu County, Suzhou). Zhu Wenhan was from Changshan County, Zizhou (now Changshan Town, Zouping County, Shandong Province), so Fan Zhongyan changed his name Zhu said(Yin Yue). At the age of four, Fan Zhongyan returned to Henan Village, Changshan County with his stepfather and mother. After that, Fan Zhongyan studied in Changshan County. When Fan Zhongyan learned about his life background when he became an adult, he bid farewell to his mother. In the fourth year of Dazhong Xiangfu of Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty (1011), he went to study at Yingtianfu Academy in Juyang (in today's Suiyang District, Shangqiu, Henan). Zhong Yan studied day and night. In winter, I was very tired, so I used water to grow the noodles, but I couldn't get enough food, so I finally used porridge to continue it. People can't endure it, but it won't be bitter."I only cook a pot of porridge every day, divide it into four pieces after it cools, eat two pieces in the morning and evening, and then cut some pickles to accompany the meal. In the eighth year of Dazhong Xiangfu (1015), he was admitted to the Jinshi Division and was appointed as the secretary of the Guangde Army (now Guangde County, Anhui Province) to join the army and take charge of the litigation prison. At this time, he welcomed his mother back to support him and returned to Suzhou to ask to return to the Fan family. However, he was harassed by some people. He insisted on his opinion, claiming that he had only restored the Fan surname and had no other attempt before he was allowed to restore the Fan surname.

Since then, Fan Zhongyan has successively served as the governor of Jiqing Army (now Bozhou, Anhui) and the supervisor of Xixi Salt Warehouse in Hailing, Taizhou. During his tenure in Taizhou, he formed a good relationship with Li, the niece of the late Senate Governor Li Changling, and gave birth to three sons named Fan Chunyou, Fan Chunren and Fan Chunli. He proposed building a seawall and was transferred to the county magistrate of Xinghua. He and his friend Teng Zongliang worked together to build the seawalls around Tongzhou, Taizhou, Chuzhou and Haizhou. The people appreciated his achievements and called the seawall "Fangong Dike." Shortly after the embankment was completed, in the fourth year of Tiansheng (1026), his mother Xie passed away from illness. Fan Zhongyan returned to Ningling County, Yingtianfu, Nanjing (now Shangqiu, Henan) for three years due to his mother's death. During his mourning period, Yan Shu, who stayed in Nanjing, invited him to serve as a professor at Yingtianfu School.

In the sixth year of Tiansheng of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty (1028), Fan Zhongyan's funeral period expired. After Yan Shu's recommendation, he was awarded the position of School Manager of the Secret Pavilion and became the emperor's literary assistant. In the seventh year (1029), Emperor Renzong held a ceremonial ceremony in the suburbs and ordered him to personally lead all officials to the Huiqing Hall to congratulate Empress Dowager Liu E on her birthday, and then to the Tianan Hall to receive her congratulations. Fan Zhongyan wrote a letter to oppose it, believing that it was contrary to the monarch's character and the court's system. He also successively wrote to the Empress Dowager to abolish the power of government behind the curtain and return it to the emperor. Both of his petitions were suppressed by the chief executive. Fan Zhongyan asked himself to serve as a local governor and was demoted to the general judge of Hezhong Prefecture (now Puzhou, Shanxi).

After Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty took office, Fan Zhongyan was recalled to the capital to serve as a speaker and right secretary of remonstrance. When Empress Guo and Renzong were arguing, she accidentally injured Renzong's neck. Renzong was furious and decided to issue an edict to abolish her. The courtiers led by Fan Zhongyan disagreed with the edict to abolish her. In order to please Renzong, Lu Yijian, the chief assistant at that time, explicitly prohibited all officials from participating in the matter. Fan Zhongyan and several of them rushed straight to the Chuigong Hall to seek an audience with Renzong. However, Renzong refused to meet him. The next morning, Fan Zhongyan and others went to the Waiting House to prepare to advise Lu Yijian. What they received was an edict that they were demoted from Beijing to the governor of Zhangzhou (now Meicheng Town, Jiande City, Zhejiang). More than a year later, in August 1034, he was transferred to the governor of Suzhou. In Suzhou, due to his meritorious service in water control, he was transferred back to the capital. He was awarded the honorary title of Tianzhang Pavilion to be made, and became the prefect of Kaifeng. In the third year of Jingyou (1036), Fan Zhongyan was dissatisfied with Lu Yijian's appointment of private persons. He wrote to Renzong a "Picture of Hundred Officials", pointing out the order and saying: "This is the order of relocation, and this is the order of relocation. This is the public, and this is the private one. Moreover, it is inappropriate to serve as a prime minister in the entire committee. "In addition, Fan Zhongyan and Lu Yijian had a fierce dispute over the establishment of the capital Luoyang. Lu Yijian pointed out that Fan Zhongyan and his supporters were" cliques ", and the" cliques "in the Northern Song Dynasty began here. In the end, Lu Yijian was dismissed from his post, and Fan Zhongyan was demoted to Zhirazhou again, then to Runzhou, and then to Zhiyue.

In the fifth year of Jingyou (1038), during the rebellion of Li Yuanhao in the Western Xia Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan was transferred to Yanzhou (near Yan 'an, Shaanxi) by Renzong and Lu Yijian, who was restored to his original position, to jointly serve as the deputy envoy of Shaanxi Economic Strategy, appeasement, recruitment and discussion with Han Qi. He assisted the commander in chief Xia Song to put down the rebellion and fabricated a ballad in the local area: "There was a Han in the army, and the Western thieves were horrified when they heard about it. There was a model in the army, and the Western bandits were shocked and scared when they heard about it. "To strengthen your own momentum. Fan Zhongyan advocated adopting the policy of "opening up farmland for a long time", while Han Qi advocated concentrating all forces and launching a large-scale counterattack. Xia Song adopted Han Qi's suggestion and sent Han Qi and Yin Zhu to Beijing to ask Renzong to approve the counterattack plan. However, in the second year of Kangding (1041), the Song army was defeated in the Battle of Haoshuichuan. Sixteen generals including General Ren Fu died heroically, and more than 10,000 soldiers died tragically. Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan were punished and demoted. After that, the Song army adopted Fan Zhongyan's defensive strategy, first building a city in Yanbei, and later building fortresses in the Song and Xia battle zone. Eliminate the weak and weak, conduct strict military training for soldiers, and promote talented generals such as Di Qing and Zhong Shiheng; adopt a conciliatory attitude towards ethnic minority residents along the border and strictly establish rewards and punishments. The Xixia defense line gradually established a solid barrier, eventually forcing the Xixia to reach a peace agreement in the fourth year of the Qingli calendar (1044).

In July of the third year of the Qingli calendar (1043), Renzong transferred the three commanders in chief of the western line-Xia Song, Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan-back to the capital and appointed them as the chief and deputy chief officials of the highest military organs-Privy Council envoy and deputy privy envoy. Fan Zhongyan replaced Wang Juzheng as the deputy governor of the Privy Council (deputy prime minister) with the deputy envoy of the Privy Council. He also fabricated a ballad saying: "Little Fan Laozi (Fan Zhongyan) had tens of thousands of armored soldiers in his chest, and he was not easy to bully like Big Fan Laozi (Fan Yong). "In September of the same year, he participated in the reform with Fu Bi, Han Qi and others. Ten reform suggestions were put forward, including "clear removal of promotions, suppression of luck, refinement of tribute, selection of officials, equalization of public land, enrichment of farming and mulberry, repair military equipment, reduce corvee, promote kindness and trust, and emphasize orders." This is the famous "Answer to the Hand Edict and the Ten Things" in history. It was one of the promoters of the so-called "Qingli Rule" at that time and lasted only one year. In the fourth year of Qingli (1044), due to opposition from Xia Song and others who hated cliques, Renzong's interest in reform gradually lost interest. Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi, and Shi Jie had no choice but to request to go out to inspect the local area. In the fifth year of Qingli (1045), Renzong issued an edict to abandon the New Deal of Qingli. Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi were removed from important military and political positions. Fan Zhongyan was demoted to a local official and moved to Wuzhou, Dengzhou, Hangzhou, Qingzhou and other places. On May 20, the fourth year of Huangyou (June 19, 1052), Fan Zhongyan died of illness in Xuzhou while being transferred from Qingzhou to Yingzhou. He was 64 years old and was posthumously posthumously awarded the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, with the posthumous title of "Wen Zheng." The inscription on the Shendao Monument was written by Ouyang Xiu, a literary master who once supported his reform. It was buried at the southern foot of Wan'an Mountain in Yichuan, Luoyang in December of the same year. There are four sons: the eldest son Fan Chunyou, the second son Fan Chunren, the third son Fan Chunli, and the fourth son Fan Chunchun.

In the first year of Huangyou (1049), while Fan Zhongyan was in charge of Hangzhou, he invested in the purchase of thousands of acres of fertile land and established Fan's Yizhuang (Jingfan Middle School in the former part of Fanzhuang in Suzhou today) to support the Fan people. And his savings in his later years were exhausted. The family was poor and sick, so they only used the official house to temporarily stay out of the wind and rain.