Writers › Writer / Poet
Xu Zhonghang
Changxing poet of the Later Seven Masters who fought off raiders as prefect of Tingzhou and died in office as left administration commissioner of Jiangxi
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Zi Ziyu · Hao Tian Mu Shan Ren
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Xu Zhongxing, courtesy name Ziyu, came from Changxing in Zhejiang and gained his jinshi in 1550, joining the Ministry of Justice. There he exchanged poems with Li Panlong and Wang Shizhen, and with his fellow graduates Liang Youyu, Zong Chen and Wu Guolun he became one of the group later called the Later Seven Masters. As prefect of Tingzhou he drove off the Guangdong bandit Xiao Wu and gave the credit to the Wuping magistrate Xu Fuzai, who had ambushed the retreating raiders. After mourning his father he was posted to Runing, was demoted to a salt-office judge after an evaluation, and as an assistant surveillance commissioner in Huguang seized the lake pirate Ke Caifeng and used the pirates' stores to feed more than ten thousand famine victims. He died in office in 1578 as left administration commissioner of Jiangxi. The Ming History (Mingshi) says he welcomed every guest, wise or foolish, high or low, and was widely mourned.
Life and times
Dates 1517 CE–1578 CE