柳宗元（773—819）LiuZongyuan
唐代文学家、思想家，唐宋八大家之一，出身于官宦家庭，少有才名，早有大志。早年为考进士，文以辞采华丽为工。贞元九年（793）中进士，十四年登博学鸿词科，授集贤殿正字。一度为蓝田尉，后入朝为官，积极参与王叔文集团政治革新，迁礼部员外郎。永贞元年（805）九月，革新失败，贬邵州刺史，十一月加贬永州司马，在此期间，写下了著名的《永州八记》。元和十年（815）春回京师，又出为柳州刺史(所以称柳柳州)。宪宗元和十四年十一月初八（819年11月28日）卒于柳州任所。柳宗元一生留诗文作品达600余篇，其文的成就大于诗。骈文有近百篇，散文论说性强，笔锋犀利，讽刺辛辣，富于战斗性，游记写景状物，多所寄托。哲学著作有《天说》、《天时》、《封建论》等，有《柳河东集》
Liu Zongyuan, the great literatus, philosopher, proser and thinker inthe Tang dynasty, born in an official family. He got the talent reputation andhigh aspiration even in his youth, and renowned for his exquisite diction. Hewas a Jingshi( passed the highest imperial examinations) in 793A.D., and passed another examinationat the age of 14 awarded as “Zhengzi”(an official rank). He had been served asa magistrate in Lantian for a time, and then as an officier in the imperialcourt. He actively participated in the politic reform of Wang Shuwen group andwas appointed to a ministry councillor of Rites. In September 805 A.D.,hewas exiled as Shaozhou Cishi (magistrate of Shaozhouprefecture) as the failure of reform. He was further degraded inNovember as Yongzhou Sima(assistant of Cishi). During this period, he wrotefamous Yong Zhou Ba Ji, a series of landscape essays. In 815 A.D., he went back to the capital in spring andappointed as Liuzhou Cishi. In Nov.28th ,819A.D., he was dead at his official residence. Heleft more than 600 poems and essays in his life. Among them, there are nearly100 parallel proses, and his proses has the features of sharp writing style,irony, pungency and strong argumentation. His travels described the scenery andmost of them contained some emotion and moral. His philosophy works including Tianshuo, Tiandui and Feudalism. LiuZongyuan’s works was compiled by Liu Yuxi in the Tang Dynasty as a collectedworks, called Collection of Liu Zongyuan’sWorks.