Rèn Fǎng 任昉 (460–508), zì Yànshēng 彥昇, of Lèān 樂安 Bóchāng 博昌 (modern Shòuguāng 壽光, Shāndōng). One of the most celebrated stylists of the Qí–Liáng transition. Already a shéntóng (prodigy) at four; entered office in the LiúSòng under Wáng Sēngqiàn 王僧虔 and through the Qí rose by recommendation. Held a long string of administrative and editorial posts: Shūjì cānjūn 書記參軍, Xiōngjūn cānjūn, Shàngshū dūfāng láng 尚書殿中郎, Zhōngshū shìláng, Sītú yòu chángshǐ, Hánlín xuéshì 翰林學士 — and finally as Jīngzhōu cìshǐ of Xīnān 新安 under Liáng Wǔdì (he died in office at New-an in Tiānjiān 7 / 508). With Shěn Yuē 沈約 he formed the leading literary pair of the age — Rèn Bǐ Shěn Shī 任筆沈詩 (“Rèn’s prose, Shěn’s poetry”) was the contemporary tag. Together with Liú Xié 劉勰, Xiāo Zǐxiǎn 蕭子顯, and Liú Xiàochuō 劉孝綽 he was one of the “Eight Friends of Jìnglíng” 竟陵八友 around the Prince of Jìnglíng Xiāo Zǐliáng 蕭子良 in the Yǒngmíng era — though Rèn’s celebrity post-dated that circle. Liángshū 14 records his biography; CBDB id 30841, dates firm.
Rèn’s surviving works include the Shù yì jì 述異記 KR3l0066 (a zhìguài-genre collection, 2 juǎn) and the literary collection Rèn Yànshēng jí 任彥昇集. His Wénzhāng yuánqǐ 文章緣起 KR4i0004, the brief but influential proto-treatise listing the origin of 85 named literary genres in the format “X (genre name) — originated with such-and-such Hàn / Wèi figure”, is recorded in the Suíshū Jīngjízhì as already lost in the Suí (有錄無書) and was reconstructed by the Táng compiler Zhāng Jī 張績; the Sìkù editors therefore regard the transmitted text as a Táng reconstruction rather than Rèn’s original.