Xú Yuánjié 徐元杰 (1196–1245), zì Rénbó 仁伯, sobriquet Méiyě 楳埜 (“Plum-Wilderness”), posthumous title Zhōngmǐn 忠愍, was a native of Shàngráo 上饒 in Xìnzhōu 信州 (modern eastern Jiāngxī). He studied with Chén Wénwèi 陳文蔚, a disciple of Zhū Xī 朱熹, and subsequently with Zhēn Déxiù 真德秀, the leading Daoxue politician of the Lǐzōng era; this double affiliation with the orthodox Zhūxué transmission shaped both his prose style (modelled on Zhēn Déxiù’s Wénzhāng zhèngzōng 文章正宗) and his political stance. In Shàodìng 5 (1232) he was first-placed jìnshì (zhuàngyuán 紹定五年進士第一). His official career carried him through the Imperial Library (校書郎), the Drafting Bureau (acting Zhōngshūshèrén 中書舍人), the Libationer of the Imperial Academy (Guózǐjiàn jìjiǔ 國子祭酒), and Vice-Minister of Works (Gōngbù shìláng 工部侍郎).
He is best known for his boldness as a remonstrant. His Wùxū lúnduì zhá-zi 戊戌輪對劄子 (1238) and Jiǎchén shàngdiàn zhá-zi 甲辰上殿劄子 (1244) — the latter delivered at the invitation of Dù Fàn 杜範 — were the principal memorials opposing Shǐ Sōngzhī’s 史嵩之 qǐfù 起復 (recall to office during mourning) and were credited with stalling the chancellor’s reappointment. In the fifth month of Chúnyòu 5 (1245) Xú died suddenly of a violent illness, with symptoms widely read by contemporaries as poisoning at the hands of Shǐ Sōngzhī’s clients. Both the Censorate (notably Zhèng Cǎi 鄭寀) and the Imperial Academy students memorialized for an inquest; an imperial decree set up an investigation, but it never reached a verdict. The two principal contemporary documentary witnesses for the affair are Xú’s own Sòngshǐ biography (j. 424) and Zhōu Mì’s 周密 Guǐxīn záshí 癸辛雜識. His surviving collected works, the Méiyě jí 楳埜集, recovered by the Sìkù editors from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn, are catalogued as KR4d0351.
NB: the Kanripo catalog meta gives Xú’s dates as 1245–1294, which is incorrect (likely a confusion with posthumous-honor regnal years); CBDB, the Sòngshǐ biography, and Wikidata all agree on 1196–1245.