Xiāo Yǐngshì 蕭穎士 (709–760)
Zì Màotǐng 茂挺. Native of Yǐngchuān 潁川 (modern Yǔzhōu, Hénán) by family origin; descendant of the Liáng-dynastic Lánlíng Xiāo 蘭陵蕭 clan through the Liáng Póyáng wáng 梁鄱陽王 (Xiāo Huī 蕭恢). The senior figure of the four canonical Tiānbǎo / Dàlì-period fùgǔ prose stylists, alongside Lǐ Huá 李華, Dúgū Jí 獨孤及, and Yuán Jié 元結 — collectively the bridge from the High-Tang court style to the YuánHé gǔwén movement of Hán Yù 韓愈 a generation later.
Jìnshì of Kāiyuán 23 (735), top of the cè (policy) examination. Successively Mìshū zhèngzì 秘書正字, Jíxián jiàolǐ 集賢校理, Guǎnglíng cānjūn 廣陵參軍 (demoted by Lǐ Línfǔ 李林甫), shǐguǎn dàizhì 史館待制 (recommended by Wéi Shù 韋述; demoted again by Lǐ Línfǔ), Hénánfǔ cānjūn, and (after the An Lùshān rebellion) zhǎng shūjì 掌書記 to the Shānnán jiédùshǐ Yuán Wěi 源洧 and Yángzhōu gōngcáo cānjūn. Resigned and died as a guest at Rǔnán 汝南 in 760, aged 51.
He had predicted the An Lùshān rebellion in advance (with Liǔ Bīng 柳并); during the rebellion he advised the Hénán cǎifǎngshǐ Guō Nà on defense (rejected) and intervened to keep the Shānnán jiédùshǐ Yuán Wěi from retreating. He refused the Yǒngwáng Lín 永王璘 recruitment and warned the zǎixiàng Cuī Yuán 崔圓 about the looming Liú Zhǎn 劉展 rebellion. The Sìkù tíyào explicitly defends him against the Tángshū’s editorial dismissal of his temperament as biǎn 褊 (narrow-minded), citing this strategic record.
His extant collection — the Xiāo Màotǐng wénjí KR4c0035 in 1 juǎn — is a fraction of the original 10 juǎn. CBDB confirms 709–760 (cbdbId 32169).