Writers › Writer / Poet
Xiao Zixian
Southern Liang historian and poet, grandson of Emperor Gao of Qi, who wrote the Nan Qi Shu, the surviving history of the Qi dynasty.
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 Jingyang · Jingchang (variant)
Xiao Zixian, courtesy name Jingyang, of the Lanling Xiao clan, was a grandson of Xiao Daocheng, founder of Qi, and eighth son of Xiao Yi, Prince Wenxian of Yuzhang. Under Liang he was made Viscount of Ningdu and held posts including Director of the Imperial Academy, Palace Attendant and Minister of Personnel, and finally governed Wuxing. His Hou Han Shu and Jin Shi Cao are lost, but his Nan Qi Shu survives as one of the Twenty-Four Histories. He died in 537.
Life and times
Dates 487 CE–537 CE