Northern Song essayist, one of the eight great prose masters, 唐宋八大家. A protégé of 欧阳修, he is known for plain, carefully argued essays rather than flourish.
Zeng Gong's prose is famous for being plain and rigorous.
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As a surname 曾 is read Zēng, not céng as in 曾经 'once'. A Song-dynasty eccentric listed five regrets in life, from shad, 鲥鱼, having too many bones to 曾子固, Zeng Gong, being unable to write poetry.
Eight master prose writers - Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Ouyang Xiu, Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong - whose essays became the classical-prose canon.
