The Eight Great Writers of the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279) are Han Yu and Liu Zong Yuan in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Ouyang Xiu, Zeng Gong, Wang Anshi, Su Xun, Su Shi and Su Che in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). This special term first appeared in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
Historical records show that the term of Eight Great Writers of Tang and Song Dynasties did not come to being in the Song Dynasty. Although some of them were often mentioned together in a lot books, but there was no complete list of the eight great writers. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there was a book entitledThe Corpus of Eight Mistersby Zhu You. Later Mao Shen compiled the bookThe Transcripts of Eight Great Writers of Tang and Song Dynasties, which clearly marked the emergence of the term. There were altogether 164 volumes of the book, and it had significant influence both at that time and afterwards.
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