Xu Tao, born in 1983, is from Qingdao, Shandong province. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Literature from Shandong University in 2006, his Master’s degree in Literature from Shandong University in 2009, and his Ph.D. in Literature from Nanjing University in 2012. From 2012 to 2019, he worked as a research assistant at the School of Liberal Arts at Nanjing University. Since 2019, he has been an associate professor at the School of Liberal Arts at Nanjing University. His main research interests are in Tang and Song Dynasty literature.