Ministers › Remonstrators
Xu Yuanjie
Southern Song official and Neo-Confucian from Shangrao, jinshi with top rank in 1232, Minister of Ceremonies, who died suddenly in 1246 and was named Zhongmin; his Meiye Ji survives.
At dawn in a palace courtyard, a large drum hangs in a small roofed frame beside a red pillar, with a bound bundle of scrolls on a low stand in front; a stone balustrade leads toward a large hall in the mist, and a row of tiny people stands far away.
Also known as Ren Bo · Meiye · Zi Xiang
Xu Yuanjie, courtesy name Renbo and styled Meiye, was from Shangrao in Xinzhou (today's Jiangxi), born in 1196. He passed the jinshi in 1232, ranking first among Jiangxi men, and rose to Minister of Ceremonies, also serving as Policy Critic, Chancellor of the Imperial Academy and Secretariat drafter. When the court moved to recall Shi Songzhi from mourning, he argued against it and prevented it. He died suddenly in 1246 and was given the posthumous name Zhongmin. His Meiye Ji, long lost, was reassembled in twelve scrolls from the Yongle Encyclopedia.
Life and times
Dates 1196 CE–1246 CE