Liu Zongyuan
| Liu Zongyuan | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 柳宗元 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Liǔ Zōngyuán |
| Wade–Giles | Liu3 Tsung1-yüan2 |
| IPA | [li̯òu̯ tsʊ́ŋy̯ɛ̌n] |
| Wu | |
| Romanization | Leu Tson-nyioẽ |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Jyutping | Lau5 Zong1-jyun4 |
| Southern Min | |
| Tâi-lô | Liú Tsong-guân |
Liu Zongyuan (Chinese: 柳宗元; Wade–Giles: Liu Tsung-yüan; 773 – November 28, 819), courtesy name Zihou (子厚), was a Chinese writer and poet who lived during the Tang Dynasty. Liu was born in present-day Yongji, Shanxi. Along with Han Yu, he was a founder of the Classical Prose Movement. He has been traditionally classed as one of the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song. He is also a famous poet.
Liu Zongyuan's civil service career was initially successful; but, in 805, he fell out of favour with the imperial government because of his association with a failed reformist movement. He was exiled first to Yongzhou, Hunan, and then to Liuzhou, Guangxi, where he eventually became the city Governor. A park and temple in Liuzhou is dedicated to his memory. His exile allowed his literary career to flourish: he produced poems, fables, reflective travelogues and essays synthesizing elements of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.
Liu's best-known travel pieces are the Eight Records of Excursions in Yongzhou (永州八游记). Around 180 of his poems are extant, of which five have been collected in the anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems. Some of his works celebrate his freedom from office, while others mourn his banishment.
One of his most famous poems is "Jiangxue" (江雪), sometimes translated into English as "Winter Snow" or "River Snow": this poem has been an inspiration to many works of Chinese painting.
A thousand mountains, no sign of birds in flight;
Ten thousand paths, no trace of human tracks.
In a lone boat, an old man, in rain hat and straw raincoat,
Fishing alone, in the cold river snow.
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Wikipedia