Liu Yong (Liu Yung) 987-1053

A native of present-day Fujian, Liu led a peripatetic existence before he was finally made jinshi at the age of forty-seven. With his literary and musical talents, he established a name among the entertainment quarters in Bianjing, then the capital of the Northern Song (960¡V1127), where he composed new songs for the sing-song girls. Well-versed in ci poetry, he contributed significantly to conventions of the manci ºCµü genre, and was considered a pioneer to the ci style by adopting colloquialism¡Xverging, to some, on the vulgarity. Still, some of Liu's poems are artistic blends of both high and low styles, in which he rendered the sublime accessible in the vernacular. Yuezhang ji ¼Ö³¹¶° [A collection of music scores] was Liu's most acclaimed work.

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