author
887–946
A senior statesman of China’s Five Dynasties period, he is best remembered as the lead compiler traditionally credited with the Old Book of Tang, one of the earliest official histories of the Tang dynasty. His life joined politics and scholarship, giving his writing a direct link to the world it described.
Born in 887, Liu Xu was a Chinese official and scholar from Zhuo Prefecture in what is now Hebei. Sources describe him as known early for his learning and literary skill, and he went on to serve through the turbulent transition from the late Tang into the Five Dynasties era.
He held important posts under Later Tang and Later Jin, rising to high office as a chancellor-level statesman. Alongside his political career, he became closely associated with court-sponsored historical writing, the kind of work that helped later generations understand dynastic change and imperial government.
Liu Xu is most famous as the figure traditionally credited with compiling the Old Book of Tang (Jiu Tang shu), completed in the mid-10th century. That history became one of the standard sources on the Tang dynasty, preserving biographies, court records, and institutional detail even though later scholars sometimes criticized its organization.