Liu Zongyuan (Liu Tsung-yuan) 773-819

A master of the guwen style of prose. Born in Chang'an, he was promoted very rapidly in the civil government, until his involvement with Wang Shuwen and his reformist clique brought him into disgrace in 805. He was assigned to a minor post in modern Hunan, and 10 years later to the ethnic minorities area of modern Guangxi where he later died. It was only after he was exiled that he began to pay much attention to literature. He wrote numerous letters, fu, and essays (often in an allegorical vein), as well as poetry, and many of his works display clear links to his own political misfortunes.

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