Biyuan

   Bì Yuán    畢沅    biyuan (1730–1797) Qiánjiā scholar whose 1783 edition of the Mòzǐ was a seminal contribution to the interpretation of the highly corrupted text of the Mòjīng. Bì was the first to correctly interpret a marginal instruction in the chapter Jīngshàng ‘Canons A’ to dú cǐ shū páng háng ‘read this book horizontally’, demonstrating that the text should be separated into top and bottom rows before reading from right to left as columns. Previously, the lines had been read from top to bottom, rendering them unintelligible. As a patron of philological scholarship, Bì supported Wáng Niànsūn, whose textual corrections complemented Bì’s structural insights. Together, their efforts laid a foundation for modern studies of the Mòzǐ and influenced later scholars such as Wáng Yǐnzhī.

   Bì Yuán    畢沅    biyuan，1730-1797，著有《墨子校注》。乾嘉学者。