Scholars › Historian
Xu Zheng
Scholar and Chamberlain for Ceremonials of the state of Wu whose Sanwu Liji gives the earliest full account of Pangu separating heaven and earth.
In an archive hall, tall wooden shelves hold scrolls and bound books with small tags, and one person climbs a ladder with their back turned; a long table in front holds an unrolled river map, a bronze lamp and a copper jug, with a city wall seen through the window.
Also known as Zi Wencao
Xu Zheng, courtesy name Wencao, from Yuzhang, served the state of Wu during the Three Kingdoms as Chamberlain for Ceremonials and was learned in the classics, writing a genealogy of the Mao Odes. His Sanwu Liji on the creation of the world and the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors is now lost, but fragments survive in the Yiwen Leiju and Taiping Yulan. Its account of Pangu separating heaven and earth from chaos is the earliest surviving text of the Pangu myth.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; lived in the state of Wu during the Three Kingdoms