Abstract: It is a common phenomenon to group writers under a collective title in the history of literature and literary research, especially in the Tang Dynasty. This phenomenon, as well as how to group the authors and in what order to call them, is meaningful to literary criticism. As the collective titles are highly acronymized or very abstract, the process of de-acronymizing and origin-seeking becomes an approach of interpretation, during which the re-examination of the original authors’ achievements may help to promote the process of canonization. Collective titles have different significance and value in the history of Chinese literature, and some authors have entered the mainstream literature and become representative of a period, while some elapsed into oblivion. No matter what reasons may lie behind, the phenomenon of grouping different authors with a collective title is worth academic attention.

Key words: collectively title, authors in the Tang Dynasty, word order in a name, critical significance