Liu Zhangqing (ca. 709–785), often read and Romanized as Liu Changqing, courtesy name Wenfang (文房), was a Chinese poet and politician during the Tang dynasty. Eleven of his poems are included in the popular anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems.

Biography

Different sources place the year of Liu Zhangqing's birth as early as 709 and as late as 726. He came from the city of Xuancheng. Although his ancestral hometown was Hejian, he spent most of his youth in Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Tang dynasty. Liu obtained his Jinshi title around 750s. In 780, he was appointed governor of Suizhou in Henan province. Because of this, his contemporaries often referred to him as Liu Suizhou. Like his birth, the year of his death is uncertain. One source says he died around 786.

Poetry

During his lifetime, Liu's poems did not receive much praise, although he was one of the representative poets during the reign of Emperor Dezong. Later generations, however, have acknowledged his skill as a poet. Liu was especially skillful in writing of poems with 5 characters. An example: