Writers › Writer / Poet
Xu Gan
One of the Seven Scholars of Jian'an from Beihai, who served as literary aide, wrote the Zhonglun and died in an epidemic
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 Xu Weizhang · Weizhang · Master Zhonglun
Xu Gan, courtesy name Weichang, from Beihai, was one of the Seven Scholars of Jian'an. He served Cao Cao as an aide in the office of the Minister of Works and later as literary adviser to Cao Pi, the General of the Household for All Purposes; he left office through illness and declined the post of magistrate of Shang'ai. He wrote the Zhonglun, which Cao Pi said formed a school of its own, and Cao Pi also called him content with little, a true gentleman. His poems include Shisi. He died in an epidemic, in 217 or 218 by different accounts.
Life and times
Dates 170 - 217