Writers › Writer / Poet
Xie Zhan
Poet of the late Eastern Jin and early Liu Song from the Xie clan of Chenjun, a governor of Yuzhang who died young in 421.
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 Courtesy name Xuanyuan · Also named Yan, courtesy name Tongyuan
Xie Zhan, courtesy name Xuanyuan, came from Yangxia in Chenjun and was an official and poet at the junction of the Eastern Jin and Liu Song. He began as an aide to Huan Wei, then under Liu Yu served as military adviser, chancellor of Ancheng and palace secretary, and after the Song was founded governed Wujun and Yuzhang. Able to write at six, he is grouped with Xie Hun and Xie Lingyun; his works include the Zi Shiying Zan, Guoran Shi and Xiji Shi. He died of illness in 421 at thirty-five.
Life and times
Dates 387 CE–421 CE