The Eight Great Essayists of the Tang and Song dynasties refer to the eight prose writers Liu Zongyuan and Han Yu of the Tang Dynasty and Ouyang Xiu, Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Che, Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong of the Song Dynasty.
Among them, Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan were the leaders of the ancient prose movement in the Tang Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu and San Su were the core figures of the ancient prose movement in the Song Dynasty, and Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong were the representatives of Linchuan literature. Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan were the advocates of the "Ancient Prose Movement". The waves of innovation they set off successively gave a new look to the outdated development of poetry and prose.
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Historical background of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties:
The title of "Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties" first appeared in the early Ming Dynasty when Zhu Youxuan, Han, Liu and others Humanities is called "The Collected Works of Mr. Six". Since Sansu is part of the same family, it is actually the "Collected Works of Mr. Eight".
In the "Wen Bian" compiled by Tang Shunzhi in the middle of Ming Dynasty, only eight writers of Tang and Song Dynasties were included. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Mao Kuncheng and his colleagues compiled *** 160 volumes of "Eight Masters of Tang and Song Dynasty". This book was widely circulated in the old days, and the name "Eight Masters of Tang and Song Dynasty" also became popular.
Since the Ming Dynasty praised the eight schools of literature in the Tang and Song Dynasties, those who studied classical literature all regarded the eight schools as their sects. There are 164 volumes of "Eight Masters of Tang and Song Dynasty Texts" in circulation, including the Wanli edition of the Ming Dynasty and the bookstore edition of the Qing Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, Wei Yuan published 8 volumes of "Compilation and Commentary on Eight Great Masters' Texts of Tang and Song Dynasties".
Baidu Encyclopedia—Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties