Lu Xun卢循

Style & Daoist names

Yuxian, Yuanlong

Period

Eastern Jin

Dates

? — 411

School

Way of the Celestial Masters (Tianshi Dao)

Role

Leader of the Way of the Celestial MastersRebellion Leader

Birthplace

Fanyang Zhuo (present-day Zhuozhou, Hebei)

Life

Lu Xun, courtesy name Yuxian, childhood name Yuanlong, was a leader of the Celestial Masters uprising at the end of the Eastern Jin, the brother-in-law of Sun En, and a descendant of the Lu clan of Fanyang. After Sun En's death Lu Xun was raised up as leader; in the third year of the Yuanxing era (404) he attacked Guangzhou and, holding Panyu, styled himself General Who Pacifies the South and Governor of Guangzhou, and the Eastern Jin court for a time granted him office. In the sixth year of the Yixi era (410), seizing the opportunity of Liu Yu's northern campaign against the Southern Yan, he and Xu Daofu led their forces north, routed He Wuji and Liu Yi, and pressed on to the very gates of Jiankang, only to be defeated by Liu Yu's returning army and driven back to Guangzhou; the following year (411) Guangzhou fell, and Lu Xun fled south to Jiaozhou, where, defeated, he drowned himself. The rising of Lu Xun lasted more than a decade and was the continuation of that of Sun En; its defeat marked the end of large-scale armed activity by the Celestial Masters at the close of the Eastern Jin.

Contributions & Influence

• Led the Celestial Masters uprising for more than a decade after Sun En