author
jin shi 1034 Yong Liu
A Northern Song poet famous for giving ci lyric poetry a more everyday, emotional voice, with songs that move easily between romance, longing, city life, and travel. His work helped make the form widely loved and remains one of the best-known bodies of Song lyric verse.
1 Audiobook
樂章集
by jin shi 1034 Yong Liu
About the author
Known in English as Liu Yong, he lived during the Northern Song dynasty and is usually dated to about 984–1053. He was born as Liu Sanbian and later took the name Liu Yong. He earned the jinshi degree in 1034, which matches the catalog style often shown as “jin shi 1034 Yong Liu.”
Liu Yong is especially remembered for ci poetry, a lyric form written to musical patterns. He is widely noted for expanding the range of the form, bringing in urban scenes, travel, separation, and the feelings of ordinary life with unusual directness and musicality.
His collection Yuezhangji is the work most often linked with his name in library and public-domain records. For listeners coming fresh to classical Chinese poetry, he stands out as a writer whose poems often feel intimate, vivid, and surprisingly modern in mood.