FACTOID #53: If you thought Antarctica was inhospitable, think again - its land area is only ninety-eight percent ice. Reassuringly, the other 2% is categorised as "barren rock".
His civil service career was initially successful, but in 805 he fell from favour because of his association with a failed reformist movement. He was exiled first to Yongzhou, (Hunan province), and then to Liuzhou (Guangxi province). However, this setback allowed his literary career to flourish: he produced poems, fables, reflective travelogues and essays sythesizing elements of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.
His best-known travel pieces are the Eight Records of Excursions in Yangzhou. Around 180 of his poems are extant. Some of his works celebrate his freedom from office, while others mourn his banishment.
External link
Biography and translations of five poems. (http://www.thedrunkenboat.com/zongyuan.html)
Liu Heng was a son of Emperor Gao of Han and Consort Bo, later empress dowager.
Liu Zhang (劉璋) was the governor/warlord of the Yizhou and kinsman to Liu Bei Liu Bei (161 - 223) was a powerful warlord and the founding emperor of the Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms era in ancient China.
Liu Zhang was a capable leader with talented officers such as Fa Zheng Fǎ Zhèng(法正), courtesy name Xiàozhí (孝直), was born in about 175 AD in China during the fall of the Han Dynasty.