Liu Zongyuan
Liu Zongyuan (773–819) was a Tang dynasty essayist, poet, and government official, celebrated as one of the Eight Masters of Tang and Song prose.
Classical Chinese prose: Literary prose written in the classical Chinese language, drawing on established models and conventions. Its inherited forms were the medium Liu sought to renew.
Liu Zongyuan's essays: The prose works of Liu Zongyuan, including political writing, fables, travel accounts, and landscape essays. They show the range of genres through which Liu developed his prose style.
Han Yu: A Tang dynasty essayist, poet, and official who promoted a return to ancient prose models. Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan became leading, complementary figures in prose reform.
Chang'an: The historic capital of several Chinese dynasties, including the Tang, located at modern Xi'an. Liu entered Tang official life in the empire’s political center.
Tang-Song prose: The classical prose tradition associated with writers of the Tang and Song dynasties. Liu’s essays became lasting models within this broader literary tradition.
Ancient prose movement: A literary movement that revived models of pre-Han prose against ornate parallel writing. Liu became one of its leading Tang advocates and practitioners.
Liu Zongyuan's poetry: The poems of Liu Zongyuan, composed chiefly in classical Chinese forms during his Tang career and exile. His poems make exile and solitude central to his literary voice.
Liu Yuxi: A Tang dynasty poet and official who shared political setbacks and literary ties with Liu Zongyuan. Their parallel exiles produced a lasting friendship and exchanges in verse.
Tang dynasty civil service: The system of government appointments and examinations through which Tang officials entered and served the imperial bureaucracy. Liu’s literary education and official career developed within this system.
Classical Chinese fable: A brief narrative in classical Chinese that uses an invented episode to convey social or moral criticism. Liu’s animal and human fables strengthened this form’s satirical possibilities.