Tian Xi Chronicle

Tian Xi (940-1003) was a famous statesman and litterateur in the early Song Dynasty. His memorials and proposals were influential in the whole court, stating outright the suffering of common people. His poetry showed a unique style, neither coined with the abstruse analogy of Xi Kun style, nor infected by the shallow melancholy of Yuan Bai style. Furthermore, he was the pioneer of Classical Prose Movement in northern Song Dynasty. He was greatly respected by the literature lions at that time. After his death, Fan Zhongyan wrote epitaph for him; Si Maguang composed inscription of his tombstone; Su Shi prefaced his memorials and proposals. This paper is a chronological biography with detailed information. It does comparative research and textual study on his biographical information in dozens of documents, chronicling his literary works and supplementing the account about his ancestors and offspring.