Writers › Writer / Poet
Xu Shen
Northern Song lyricist from Sanqu who, for his musical learning, became Master of Music at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices in the early Zhenghe era, later governed Changzhou, and composed the song Zhuandiao Erlang Shen.
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 Gan Chen · Gan Chen (simplified)
Xu Shen, courtesy name Ganchen, was from Sanqu (today's Quzhou, Zhejiang), a Northern Song lyricist. In the early Zhenghe era he became Master of Music at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices for his knowledge of music, and later governed Changzhou. His Zhuandiao Erlang Shen was widely sung; Wang Mingqing records that he had it sung at a banquet to tease the prefect Li Xiaoshou. He wrote the Qingshan Yuefu, now lost. His dates are unknown.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in the Zhenghe era (1111–1118 CE)