Ouyang Xiu (redirected from Ou-Yang Hsiu)

Ouyang Xiu

 or Ou-yang Hsiu

(born 1007, Mianyang, Sichuan province, China—died 1072, Yingzhou, Anhui province) Chinese poet, historian, and statesman. He served in various official positions but was repeatedly demoted or banished for his outspokenness. He called himself Zuiweng (“Old Drunkard”), built a pavilion of that name, and wrote an essay about it that is one of the most celebrated works in Chinese literature. Later put in charge of civil-service examinations, he favoured those who wrote in the simple, ancient style known as guwen and failed those who used literary embellishments, thus setting a new course in Chinese literature. His own writings in the guwen style, including Xintangshu (1060; “New History of the Tang Dynasty”), became a model that was long emulated. When the Xintangshu was finished, Ouyang was rapidly promoted to the highest councils of state, leaving a remarkable record in social, financial, and military affairs. He was falsely accused of having an affair with his daughter-in-law, a charge that injured his prestige. He repeatedly asked to be relieved of his duties, but instead he was sent to be magistrate successively in Anhui, Shandong, and Henan. As the leader of the reform movement of poetry and prose in the Northern Song dynasty, Ouyang established a monumental reputation by his epoch-marking creative works, and he is renowned as one of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song.