Liu Yuxi

Life

During the An Lushan Rebellion, Liu Yuxi’s family moved to Jiaxing, and he later described himself as having spent his youth in Jiangnan. His grandfather was Liu Yun (劉雲), his father Liu Xu (劉緒); his father-in-law was Xue Jian (薛謇), and his son was Liu Chengyong (劉承雍).

He passed the jinshi examination in 793 and also the Boxue Hongci examination; in 795 he passed the Ministry of Personnel selection examination and received the post of Palace Text Corrector (太子校書郎). He subsequently served as secretary to the military governors of Xusi-Hao and Huainan, as Weinan county secretary, and as Investigating Censor.

In 805, the first year of Yongzhen, he became a Court Gentleman for State Farms, a director of the Salt and Iron Section, and a judge attached to the commissioner for determining rites, while taking part in Wang Shuwen’s political reform as a central figure. After the reform failed, he was demoted. Accounts differ over the sequence: one places the appointment as Commandant of Langzhou before that as Prefect of Lianzhou, while another reverses the order; both offices appear in the appointment history from 805 onward.

Recalled to court in 815, he was sent out again as Prefect of Bozhou and then transferred to Lianzhou after his poetry was judged satirical; during the Changqing and Baoli eras he served as Prefect of Kuizhou and Hezhou. At the beginning of the Wenzong reign, he returned to court and successively held the posts of Chief Minister of Guests in the Eastern Capital, Chief Minister of Guests, Academician of the Jixian Hall, Auxiliary Academician of the Jixian Hall, and Gentleman of the Ministry of Rites, before serving as prefect of Suzhou, Ruzhou, and Tongzhou.

Pei Du recommended him as a Grand Master of the Heir Apparent and as Acting Minister of Rites; in 836 he became Grand Master of the Heir Apparent in charge of the Eastern Capital, later serving as Director of the Palace Library, and became known as Liu Binke and Liu Shangshu. Early in the Wuzong reign he received the concurrent title of Acting Minister of Rites, and in 841 he served as Minister of Rites. He died in Luoyang in 842 at the age of seventy-one; the office of Minister of Revenue is variously presented as an appointment in that year or as a posthumous grant.

Literature and thought

Liu Yuxi was known for poetry and prose, and his philosophical writing was also highly regarded; Bai Juyi praised him as a poetic hero. He was also an active participant in the Tang古文 movement. About eight hundred poems survive, and critics especially valued his seven-character regulated verse, quatrains, and short yuefu pieces.

His poetics held that allusions in poetry should have identifiable sources; this principle was embraced by the Jiangxi school of Song poetry, and some of his works were regarded as helping to open its way. He adapted folk-song forms in such series as 《竹枝詞》, 《柳枝詞》, and 《插田歌》, also wrote 《天論》, and inspired later imitations of 《竹枝詞》.

Works and transmission

Works attributed to him include 《劉賓客文集》, 《因論》, 《傳信方》, 《劉白唱和集》, 《劉禹錫集》, 《吳蜀集》, and 《汝洛集》, as well as 《天論》. 《劉禹錫集》 comprised forty volumes, of which ten were lost in the early Song; 《劉夢得文集》, also called 《劉賓客文集》, was among the circulating editions. 《全唐詩》 arranged his poems in twelve volumes, while 《全唐詩外編》 and 《全唐詩續拾》 added six poems and five fragmentary lines; more than forty ci lyrics survive.

Associations and influence

In his early years Liu Yuxi was a literary friend of Liu Zongyuan, and later he exchanged poems with Bai Juyi; together with Liu Zongyuan and Bai Juyi he was known as Liu–Liu and Liu–Bai. He was also a friend of Han Yu, and his association with Liu Zongyuan included collegial service, poetic exchange, and the composition of a sacrificial text. He served in Du You’s staff as a Huainan military-governor’s aide, while Wang Shuwen acted as his patron and valued him. His use of argument in poetry and insistence on sourced allusions influenced the later Jiangxi school.