Shen Yue

Shen Yue (traditional Chinese: 沈約; simplified Chinese: 沈约; 441 – 1 May 513), courtesy name Xiuwen (休文), was a Chinese historian, music theorist, poet, and politician born in Huzhou, Zhejiang. He was the grandson of the general, Shen Linzi and served emperors under the Liu Song dynasty, the Southern Qi dynasty (see Yongming poetry), and the Liang dynasty of Southern Dynasties era. He was a prominent scholar of the Liang dynasty and the author of the Book of Song, an historical work covering the history of the previous Liu Song dynasty. He is probably best known as the originator of the first deliberately applied rules of tonal euphony (so called "four tones and eight defects" 四聲八病) in the history of Chinese prosody. He was also the leading scholar on the musical practices of his time and author of the essays on qilin and omenology.