Ouyang Xiu

Who was Ouyang Xiu?

Ouyang Xiu was a Chinese statesman, historian, essayist, calligrapher and poet of the Song Dynasty. He is also known by his courtesy name of Yongshu, and was also self nicknamed The Old Drunkard 醉翁, or Householder of the One of Six 六一居士 in his old age. Due to the multi-faceted nature of his talents, he would be regarded in Western parlance as a Renaissance man.

Ouyang was one of the major players in the Qingli Reforms of the 1040s and was in charge of creating the New History of the Tang Dynasty. He was also regarded as one of the great masters of prose of the Tang and Song era. He was also a noted writer of both shi and ci poetry.