The reason why ranking is difficult is mainly the grasp of ranking standards. Some advocate chronological order, some advocate the order of literary achievements, some advocate the order of how many pieces of ancient prose are selected, and some even advocate the order of people's attention. I think the ranking standard should first consider the connotation of "Eight Masters in Tang and Song Dynasties", that is, "Eight Masters in Ancient Chinese Literature", that is, making outstanding contributions to the advocacy and practice of writing style reform (including prose and poetry). This should be the primary criterion and cannot be deviated from. Of course, it is not necessary to be absolute, but also to give due consideration to the consideration of time sequence and literary achievements.
For example, the more consistent ranking is to rank Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan in the Tang Dynasty in the first place, which has both connotation and age.
Han Yu, the leader of the ancient prose movement in Tang Dynasty, occupies a high position in the development history of China's prose. Su Dongpo praised him for "the decline of eight generations of literature". His articles are magnificent, luxurious and unrestrained, full of twists and turns, novel and concise, logical and rigorous, blending ancient and modern. Whether it is discussion, narration or lyricism, it has formed a unique style and reached a height that no one has ever reached before. Liu Zongyuan, as one of the advocates of the ancient prose movement in the Tang Dynasty, opposed the gorgeous style of writing that enveloped the literary world since the Six Dynasties, and advocated the simplicity and smoothness of prose, so he naturally ranked first and second among the "eight masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties". Since the beginning should be arranged in this way, it has the meaning of connotation and time sequence, which means following the arrangement of six characters in Song Dynasty.
Some people think that the literary contributions of Han and Liu should be compared with those of the six writers in the Song Dynasty, which disrupted the time sequence of the Tang and Song Dynasties. For example, according to the number of anthologies of past dynasties, some people rank them as "Han Yu, Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi, Liu Zongyuan, Wang Anshi, Ceng Gong, Su Xun and Su Zhe", which I think is really unnecessary and inappropriate. We are talking about "eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties" rather than "eight masters", and we should emphasize the style of writing rather than the advocacy of literary works. Besides, it is really difficult to compare their literary achievements one by one.
The main difference is the ranking of the six masters in the Song Dynasty, especially the ranking of Ouyang Xiu and Su San. At present, the conspicuous arrangement, such as Baidu Encyclopedia, puts "three sows" before Ouyang Xiu, which is very inappropriate for our scholar Cao Zongguo, because it violates the principle and time sequence of advocating writing style.
Ouyang Xiu was the first literary leader to create a generation of literary style in the literary history of the Song Dynasty. He led the poetry innovation movement in the Northern Song Dynasty, and inherited and developed Han Yu's ancient prose theory. His high achievements in prose creation and his correct theory of ancient prose complement each other, thus creating a generation of writing style. Ouyang Xiu took the spirit of Han Yu's Preface to Literature, strongly opposed the extravagant and obscure "contemporary prose" and advocated a simple, fluent and natural style. His works have profound connotations, diverse forms, beautiful language, charm and musicality. Many famous works, such as Zuiwengting Ji and Qiusheng Fu, have been passed down through the ages. Ouyang Xiu not only changed the style of writing, but also innovated the style of poetry. He has also made great achievements in historiography. Ouyang Xiu is a writer, a "scholar" and a teacher of many people, such as Su Shi. Therefore, Ouyang Xiu should be ranked before the "Three Sus" and the first in the Six Song Dynasties.
Su Shi's advocacy of writing style in the "Three Sus" contributed a lot, mainly to the innovation of ci style. He is the founder of the bold school, but his contribution to theory and prose creation is not outstanding. So it should be behind Ouyang Xiu. However, Su Shi is indeed the representative of the highest literary achievements in the Song Dynasty. He has made great achievements in poetry, poetry, prose, calligraphy and painting. Therefore, although Su Shi is younger than his parents Su Xun and Wang Anshi, it is appropriate for him to rank second in the Song Dynasty.
The key is whether Su Xun and Su Zhe can rank ahead of Wang Anshi and Ceng Gong, and become the "Three Sus" together with Su Shi.
Wang Anshi and Ceng Gong are representatives of Linchuan literature. After Ouyang Xiu, they set off a wave of innovation in ancient Chinese. Wang Anshi's prose is straightforward and concise, full of philosophy, vigorous brushwork, imposing manner, sharp words and vivid arguments, which creates and develops a unique prose style with thorough reasoning, rigorous argumentation, careful logic, clear expression and integration of notes and arguments. From the literary point of view, Wang Anshi's works have made outstanding achievements in poetry, prose and ci. The poetry innovation movement in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty was vigorously promoted by him, which contributed to sweeping away the glitz and splendor that was all the rage in the early Song Dynasty. Ceng Gong advocated "Taoism before literature" and attached importance to the moral cultivation of writers. Ceng Gong's prose works are very rich, especially in discussion and narration. His argumentative paper is full of arguments, full of branches and leaves, full of twists and turns, calm and sincere; The narrative is clear, concise, vivid and thought-provoking. His academic and articles were widely known before his death, especially after his death.
Although Su Xun inherited the argumentative tradition of Mencius and Han Yu in writing style, he formed his own vigorous writing style, with clear language and repeated analysis, full of the color of strategists in the Warring States period, but his role and achievements in writing style innovation were obviously inferior to Wang Anshi's. Su Zhe also has his own views on ancient Chinese writing, and is good at political and historical theory. His style of writing is Wang Yang's, full of elegance and excellent prose, but his achievements and influence are not as good as those of Wang Anshi and Ceng Gong, so it is very problematic to rank ahead of them.
So I think, in terms of writing style and achievements, the ranking of the eight great masters in Tang and Song Dynasties should be Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan in Tang Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi, Wang Anshi, Ceng Gong, Su Xun and Su Zhe in Song Dynasty.
If we think that this arrangement violates the chronological order and breaks the "Three Sus" that people are used to calling, then it can also be summarized by "Ouyang, Three Sus and Zeng Wang of Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty".