Liu Tsung-yüan (773-819) was a Chinese poet and prose writer. A major figure in the neoclassic movement of the T'ang dynasty, he is the acknowledged master of an important genre of Chinese literary prose, the landscape essay.

Liu Tsung-yüan was born in the suburb of Ch'ang-an, the capital, where his father was a minor official. At age 20 he passed the literary examination and earned the chinshih degree, one of the high graduate degrees. Three years later he was appointed collator at the Imperial Secretariat and began his official career.

Short Political Career

Liu Tsung-yüan's growing literary reputation and political activity won him many friends of similar mind and aspirations, including Han Yü and Liu Yü-hsi. Together with the latter, he joined a political faction that advocated radical reform of the government, which was then in the hands of corrupt...