Zeng Gong

Who was Zeng Gong?

Zeng Gong, courtesy name Zigu, was a Chinese scholar and historian of the Song Dynasty in China. He was one of the supporters of the New Classical Prose Movement and is regarded as founder of one of the Eight Great Schools of Thought of the Tang and Song dynasties.

Zeng Gong was born in Jianchang. He is said to have written Liulun 六論 when he was only twelve. After the work was praised by Ouyang Xiu, one of the intellectual leaders of the era, Zeng Gong became widely known among literary circles.

In 1037, at the age of eighteen, he moved to Yushan county to accompany his father Zeng Yizhan, who had been appointed magistrate there. Whilst in Yushan, he travelled extensively in its hinterlands and wrote You Xinzhou Yushan Xiaoyan Ji. The work was divided into five sections. The first describes the geography of Yushan, followed by sections on the caves, rocks etc. Zeng's youthful descriptions show his vivid imagination and literary talent. In his twenties, Zeng Gong travelled widely throughout China, befriending the would be reformer Wang Anshi and later recommending him to Ouyang Xiu.