He attained a jinshi degree in the imperial examination in 724, but left the capital to live a pastoral life, and composed his most famous poems on nature.
Among his better-known poems are the jueju "On Seeing the Snow Peak of Zhongnan" and the wuyan lüshi [zh] "Rufen bie ye".
[2] He earned the favour of the high-ranking statesman Zhang Yue, but he did not take to life at court, and in his later years retired to his villa in Rufen (simplified Chinese: 汝坟; traditional Chinese: 汝墳; pinyin: Rǔfén, modern-day Fuyang, Anhui Province).
[3][1] Zu Yong occupies a prominent position as a nature poet of the High Tang period.
[5] One of his most famous poems is the wuyan lüshi [zh] "Rufen bie ye" (simplified Chinese: 汝坟别业; traditional Chinese: 汝墳別業; pinyin: Rǔfén bié yè), which is considered the representative poem of his post-retirement period.