Xú Gān jí 徐幹集
Collected Works of Xu Gan (Reconstructed) by 徐幹 (撰)
About the work
A reconstructed collection (jíyìběn 輯佚本) of the literary writings of Xú Gān 徐幹 (171–218 CE), one of the Jiàn’ān qīzǐ 建安七子 (Seven Masters of the Jiàn’ān Era). Organized in two juǎn, the collection draws citations primarily from Shī jì 詩紀 (juǎn 16) with supplementary fragments from encyclopaedic compilations. The 〈答劉公幹詩〉 (Reply to Liu Gonggan, i.e., Liú Zhēn 劉楨 KR4b0091, whose zì was Gōnggàn 公幹) is preserved among the verse, constituting an important intertextual exchange between two of the Seven Masters. Compiled by Zhāng Pǔ 張溥 for his Hàn Wèi Liùcháo bǎisān jiā jí 漢魏六朝百三家集.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This text is an extra-catalog reconstruction not included in the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書.
Abstract
Xú Gān 徐幹 (171–218 CE; zì Wěicháng 偉長; CBDB id 242486) was a native of Běihǎi 北海 (modern Shandong). He served on the staff of Cáo Cāo 曹操. His biography appears in Sān guó zhì (Wèishū, juǎn 21). Wilkinson records him as one of those Hàn figures who were born and died in the Later Hàn but are classified under Wei because they did not receive biographies in the Hòu Hàn shū (Chinese History: A New Manual, §22.1, on the classification of historical persons across dynasties: “Xu Gan 徐幹 (171–217) [Wilkinson’s date] were all born and died in the Later Han, but none of them has a biography in the History of the Later Han.”). He died in the epidemic of 217–218 CE. See 徐幹 for full biography.
Xu Gan’s primary literary legacy is his philosophical prose collection, the Zhōnglùn 中論 (Balanced Discourses, ca. 217 CE), an extended series of essays on political ethics and statecraft composed in the context of the collapse of Hàn governance, portions of which are translated in John Makeham’s annotated translation (FLP and YUP, 2003). As Wilkinson notes: “Xu Gan was a poet and thinker, who served on the staff of Cao Cao. He died in the epidemic of 217.” (Chinese History: A New Manual, §47.7: “Zhonglun 中論”). His verse, though less celebrated than that of Wáng Càn 王粲 or Liú Zhēn 劉楨, is notable for its restrained elegance. The Suíshū Jīngjí zhì records a collected works in five juǎn (lost). Zhāng Pǔ’s reconstruction assembles the surviving verse fragments. The standard reconstruction of his poetry is in Lù Qīnlì 逯欽立’s Xiān-Qín Hàn Wèi Jìn Nánběicháo shī 先秦漢魏晉南北朝詩 (Zhōnghuá, 1983).
Translations and research
- Makeham, John, tr. Balanced Discourses: An Annotated Translation of Xu Gan’s Zhonglun. Foreign Languages Press and Yale University Press, 2003. Translation with introductions and notes of the Zhōnglùn essays.
- Knechtges, David R., and Taiping Chang, eds. Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide. Leiden: Brill, 2010–2014. Entry on Xu Gan.
- Lù Qīnlì 逯欽立, ed. Xiān-Qín Hàn Wèi Jìn Nánběicháo shī 先秦漢魏晉南北朝詩. 3 vols. Zhōnghuá, 1983.