Han Yu (768 - 824), born in Heyang of Henan Province (today's west of Mengxian, Henan), wasa litterateur and philosopher of the Tang Dynasty.
Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty was so obsessed in Buddhism in his late years that he went to the Famen Temple to fetch the sarira with a grand ceremony. Han Yu was not a Buddhist believer and dissatisfied with the extravagant action. He then wrote a report to Emperor Xianzong and admonished him not to do such a superstitious thing. Receiving his report, Emperor Xianzong flew into a rage and though he did not kill Han Yu, he demoted the latter to Chaozhou to be governor there.
In terms of literary achievements, Han Yu enjoyed an equal fame with Liu Zongyuan. They were the initiators of the
Ancient Prose Movement of the Tang Dynasty, advocating the learning of prose written in the Pre-Qin Period and the Han Dynasty. They were acclaimed for "their prose rising from the declining state of the past eight generations."
