Pan Laoping was from Libo County. The National Library of China biography records that he spent two years in private school, then learned Shuishu from his grandfather Pan Shun and father Pan Rongsheng. At twenty he began independently presiding over Shuishu customs activities. Family instruction gave him the knowledge to work with the manuscripts and the practices in which they were used.
From the journal
Pan Laoping: A Life of Shuishu Learning in Libo
The Libo inheritor Pan Laoping learned Shuishu within his family, then helped annotate manuscripts and teach another generation of specialists.
Learning Shuishu in Libo
The Libo manuscript collection
Pan later worked with the Libo collection, helping catalogue and translate more than 160 Shuishu volumes. The biography names books including Leijin Jiri Juan and Jinyin Juan. Cataloguing identifies and organizes the volumes; translation and annotation make their contents accessible to readers beyond the specialists who learn the written signs and oral explanations together.
From family learning to apprentices
In 2002 Pan became a Libo Shuishu researcher; in 2005 he was appointed a Qiannan prefectural Shuishu expert. The National Library record says he taught his son and ten apprentices. He also served as a principal ritual master in nine Shuishu ceremonies. His work joined manuscript documentation with teaching and ritual practice. Pan died in 2025, according to the National Library record.