Writer of ci, songs set to the popular tunes of Kaifeng's singing girls, so widely sung in his day that people said wherever there was a well, his words were heard. His 雨霖铃, a song of parting, is learned at school.
Liu Yong's ci about parting are especially moving, and in his day people sang them everywhere.
Tips
culture
Two of his lines are still quoted: 竟无语凝噎, 'in the end wordless, choked up', from 雨霖铃, and 衣带渐宽终不悔, 'no regrets though my belt grows looser', which 王国维 made the second of his three stages of every great achievement.
history
Born 柳三变, he failed the exams again and again. When a line of his scorning official fame reached Emperor Renzong, the emperor is said to have struck him from the pass list, telling him to go and write ci, and Liu took to calling himself a ci writer by imperial order. He passed only in 1034, in his late forties.
