Xiang Xiu

Also known as Zi Ziqi

Xiang Xiu, courtesy name Ziqi, came from Huai county in Henei and was a close friend of Xi Kang and Lu An, with whom he is counted among the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove; he worked the bellows when Xi Kang forged iron in Luoyang and tended gardens with Lu An at Shanyang. The Book of Jin (Jinshu) says his commentary on the Zhuangzi opened up its hidden meanings and revived the study of the mysterious. After Sima Zhao had Xi Kang and Lu An executed, Xiang Xiu accepted a local nomination and went to Luoyang; asked why he had abandoned his hermit ideals, he replied that the ancient recluses were too rigid to admire. Passing Xi Kang's old house and hearing a neighbour's flute, he wrote the Rhapsody on Past Friends. He died in office, having held court posts without real duties. The Jinshu biography of Guo Xiang says Guo passed off Xiang's Zhuangzi notes as his own, a charge modern scholars still debate.