author
Tong Xiao
501–531
Remembered as the brilliant crown prince behind one of China’s most influential literary anthologies, this sixth-century scholar helped shape what later generations read as classical literature. His short life left a lasting mark on the study of poetry and prose.
1 Audiobook
古詩十九首
by Tong Xiao
About the author
Born in 501, he was the eldest son of Emperor Wu of Liang and grew up at the center of the Liang court during a period of intense literary activity. Historical accounts describe him as precocious and deeply educated in the Chinese classics from an early age.
He is best known as the compiler of the Wen Xuan (Selections of Refined Literature), a landmark anthology put together in the 520s with the help of scholars around him. The collection preserved and organized major works of earlier poetry and prose, and it became one of the most important books in the later Chinese literary tradition.
Although he died young in 531 and never ruled as emperor, his reputation endured through his literary judgment and patronage of writers. For many readers, his name remains closely tied to the idea of literary taste itself: choosing, preserving, and passing on the works that mattered.