Liu Zongyuan

Liu Zongyuan's civil service career was initially successful; however, in 805, he fell out of favour with the imperial government because of his association with a failed reformist movement.

[2] His exile allowed his literary career to flourish: he produced poems, fables, reflective travelogues and essays synthesizing elements of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

[1] Liu's best-known travel pieces are the Eight Records of Excursions in Yongzhou (永州八記).

In a lone boat, an old man, in a rain hat and a straw raincoat, Fishing alone, in the cold river snow.

1300), Yu Ji's (虞 集, 1272–1348) younger brother, wrote texts titled Fei Fei Guoyu (simplified Chinese: 非非国语; traditional Chinese: 非非國語; Argument against the Argument against the Harangues of the Various States) in opposition to Liu Zongyuan's essay.

Statue of Liu Zongyuan
Landscape painting by Zhou Wenjing, the last two lines of Liu Zongyuan's poem "River Snow" written in the upper right corner (" 孤舟蓑笠翁,獨釣寒江雪 ")