Lou Yuanli's life dates, birthplace, and biographical details are not clearly recorded, and available public information is limited and awaits further verification. The only known work attributed to him is Tianjia Wuxing (The Five Elements of Farming Households), classified under social sciences. The book deals with farming and daily livelihood, documenting content related to weather, seasonal nodes, cultivation, and folk experience, and has the character of compiling practical knowledge for rural households. In its approach, it emphasizes empirical summary and orally transmitted folk wisdom; the language is plain and practical rather than deliberately literary. As a piece of traditional agricultural literature, it offers later readers a reference for understanding the rhythms of life, seasonal concepts, and transmission of knowledge in traditional agrarian society, and it is through this work that Lou Yuanli's name has been passed down.
