Writers › Writer / Poet
Xiao Zifan
Man of letters of the Xiao clan who served the Southern Qi and Liang, rising to Director of the Palace Library and Minister of Justice; he wrote a Thousand Character Classic.
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 Jingze
Xiao Zifan, courtesy name Jingze, of the Xiao clan of Lanling, was a Southern Qi imperial relative who lived 486 to 550 and was posthumously styled Wen. He served both the Qi and Liang as Crown Prince's Attendant, Governor of Jianan, Grand Administrator of Shixing, Director of the Palace Library, Grand Master and Minister of Justice. At Xiao Wei's request he composed a Thousand Character Classic, later annotated by Cai Wei, wrote an elegy for Empress Jian with Zhang Zuan, and left a collection in thirty scrolls. The Yutai xinyong includes his Spring Gazing with Old Feelings.
Life and times
Dates 486 CE–550 CE