Liu Zaifu

Liu Zaifu (1941–2026) was born in Nan'an, Fujian, and graduated from the Department of Chinese at Xiamen University in 1963. He served as director of the Institute of Literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and editor-in-chief of Literature Review. His academic writing focused on literary theory and criticism; he was the author of On the Combination of Characters, On the Subjectivity of Literature, and the Four Books on Red Mansions, and co-authored Farewell to Revolution with Li Zehou. After 1989 he lived abroad and died in Hangzhou in May 2026. This site holds three of his works, including Tianya Wuyu, Prose Poetry in Splendor, and Aesthetic Notes, which span prose miscellanies and more emotionally reflective writing, showing a turn from theoretical inquiry toward essayistic expression. Public information is limited, but his prose and notes tend to follow personal reflection and aesthetic experience in a concise style, suited to readers interested in his thought and literary manner.