The classical movement promoted by Han Yu not only impacted the Tang dynasty, but more so thereafter, as even Tseng Kuo-Fan and Hu Shih in the late Qing dynasty were heavily influenced by him. Thanks to Han Yu, after him the prose essay became the literary mainstream in Chinese culture. No wonder that Su Dongpo dubbed him: "He who revitalized Confucianist writing after generations of decline."
韓愈所倡導的古文運動，影響不僅於唐代，甚至清末的曾國藩、胡適都深受影響，使得中國文化自此以散文為文學主流，無怪乎蘇東坡要稱他「文起八代之衰」。