Liú Xié 劉勰 (ca. 465–ca. 522), zì Yànhé 彥和, of Dōngguān Jǔ 東莞莒 (Shāndōng), is the author of the [[KR4i0001|Wénxīn diāolóng 文心雕龍]], the foundational comprehensive treatise on literature in the Chinese tradition. Orphaned young, he was raised under the patronage of the eminent Buddhist monk Sēngyòu 僧祐 at the Dìnglín 定林 monastery on Mount Zhōng 鍾山 outside Jiànkāng 建康, where he spent more than a decade collating Buddhist sūtras and editing the catalogue and prefaces that survive as the Chū sānzàng jìjí 出三藏記集. Around 500 (late Southern Qí) he completed the Wénxīn diāolóng; the famous anecdote in his Liáng shū and Nán shǐ biographies has him waylaying the bibliophile-grandee Shěn Yuē 沈約’s sedan-chair on the road to present his manuscript, which Shěn admired and kept on his desk. Under the Liáng he held minor secretarial posts: Fèngcháo qǐng 奉朝請, then concurrent Tōngshì shèrén 通事舍人 of the Eastern Palace under the Crown Prince Xiāo Tǒng 蕭統 (the future Zhāomíng tàizǐ 昭明太子, compiler of the [[KR4h0001|Wén xuǎn 文選]]), then Bùbīng xiàowèi 歩兵校尉. Toward the end of his life he requested permission to take the tonsure, returned to Dìnglín, and was ordained as the monk Huìdì 慧地; he died within the year. The Liáng dynasty biographies are Liáng shū 50 and Nán shǐ 72.