Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties · Historian and Official

Xu Guang 徐廣

c. AD 352 - AD 425

Passages: 20
Chapters: 2
Histories: 2

Overview

Xu Guang was a historian and Official.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Yemin	野民	Yěmín

Life and dates

Death

AD 425 元嘉二年
Age Value: 74 · Reckoning: Sui
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 231

Age

74
AD 425 元嘉二年 · Reckoning Sui
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 231

Attested activity

AD 425 元嘉二年
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 231
AD 400 to AD 420 典午將滅
Directly stated · Book of Northern Qi 32, passage 219
AD 420 永初元年
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 225
AD 405 義熙初
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 117
AD 397 to AD 401 隆安中
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 113

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Kin of Xu Huo (徐豁)
elder brother's son 兄子 · Through Xu Miao (徐邈)
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 233
Sibling of Xu Miao (徐邈)
elder brother 兄 · Full siblings
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 107
Parent of Xu Daoxuan (徐道玄)
father 父
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 228
Child of Xu Zao (徐藻)
son 子
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 106

Key source chapters

Career and standing

Grand Master of Leisure 中散大夫
AD 420 永初元年 · Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 225
Director of the Secretariat 秘書監
Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 140
Master of Writings 著作郎
Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 119
Secretary Gentleman 秘書郎
Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 111
fifth-rank Marquis of Lecheng county 樂成縣五等侯
Enfeoffed
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 118

Places and affiliations

Polity Id eastern-jin · Relation Served
Directly stated · Book of Northern Qi 32, passage 219
Polity Id liu-song · Relation Served
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 225
At Gumu in Dongguan 東莞姑幕
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 105
At Jingkou 京口 · Relation Grew up in
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 227
At Jinling 晉陵 · Relation Ancestral graves at
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 227

Works and attributed material

Annals of Jin 晉紀
Volumes 46
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 139
Annals of Jin 晉紀
Relation Author
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 139
Letter · Author · With Founding Emperor (高祖)
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passages 127-137
Ritual opinion · Author
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passages 234-239
Speech · Speaker · With Xie Hui (謝晦)
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passages 144-146

Events and relationships

Remained as Jin survivor
Political · Loyalist · Mode quotation Speaker Zhu Yang (朱瑒)
Directly stated · Book of Northern Qi 32, passage 219
Wept at Jin abdication
Political · Witness
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passages 141-142

Assessments and attributes

Assessment devoted to the sages; renown fitting · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 222
Assessment especially accomplished in learning · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 108
Assessment old loyal servant of the Jin house · Mode quotation Speaker Zhu Yang (朱瑒)
Directly stated · Book of Northern Qi 32, passage 219
loved reading even in old age
Habit
Directly stated · Book of Song 55, passage 230

References in the histories

Search passages

History

20 passages

Book of Northern Qi, Chapter 32Volume 32 Biographies 24: Lu Fahe; Wang Lin (General) · 1 passage

故典午將滅，徐廣為晉家遺老； When the Jin house was dying, Xu Guang remained its old loyal servant;

Book of Song, Chapter 55Volume 55 Biographies 15: Zang Dao, Xu Guang, F Long · 19 passages

列傳第十五臧燾徐廣傅隆 Biography 15 — Zang Dao, Xu Guang, and Fu Long

時太廟鴟尾災，燾謂著作郎徐廣曰：「昔孔子在齊，聞魯廟災，曰必桓、僖也。 When fire broke out at the finials of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, Dao said to Xu Guang of the Master of Writings office: "Long ago, when Confucius was in Qi and heard that Lu's ancestral temple had burned, he said the disaster must concern the shrines of Duke Huan and Duke Xi.

徐廣，字野民，東莞姑幕人也。 Xu Guang, whose courtesy name was Yemin, came from Gumu in Dongguan.

家世好學，至廣尤精，百家數術，無不研覽。 His family had long valued learning, and Guang surpassed them all, studying every branch of the hundred schools and the arts of calculation without exception.

謝玄為州，辟廣從事西曹。 When Xie Xuan served as regional inspector, he recruited Guang as an aide in the Western Bureau.

晉孝武帝以廣博學，除為秘書郎，校書秘閣，增置職僚。 Emperor Xiaowu of Jin, recognizing Guang's erudition, appointed him Secretary Gentleman to collate books in the Secret Archive and expanded the staff.

時會稽王世子元顯錄尚書，欲使百僚致敬，台內使廣立議，由是內外並執下官禮，廣常為愧恨焉。 At the time Yuanxian, heir of the Prince of Kuaiji, controlled the Secretariat and wished all officials to pay him homage; Guang was ordered to draft the proposal within the capital, and thereafter officials inside and outside the court observed subordinate rites toward him — a matter that often filled Guang with shame and regret.

桓玄輔政，以為大將軍文學祭酒。 When Huan Xuan served as regent, he appointed Guang libationer of letters on the Grand Marshal's staff.

李太后薨，廣議服曰：「太皇太后名位允正，體同皇極，理制備盡，情禮彌申。 When Empress Dowager Li died, Guang offered a ritual opinion on mourning dress, saying: "The grand empress dowager's title and rank are fully legitimate, her status equals the imperial apex, the ritual logic is complete, and the emotional obligation is all the greater.

臣等參詳，宜敕著作郎徐廣撰成國史。」 We your subjects have reviewed the matter and submit that Xu Guang of the Master of Writings office should be ordered to complete the national history."

時有風雹為災，廣獻書高祖曰：「風雹變未必為災，古之聖賢輒懼而修己，所以興政化而隆德教也。 When wind and hail brought disaster, Guang wrote to the Founding Emperor: "Such omens are not necessarily calamities; the sages of antiquity always took them as warnings to refine themselves — and thereby raised good government and exalted moral teaching.

初，桓玄篡位，安帝出宮，廣陪列悲慟，哀動左右。 Earlier, when Huan Xuan usurped the throne and Emperor An was driven from the palace, Guang stood in attendance weeping so bitterly that he moved all those around him.

及高祖受禪，恭帝遜位，廣又哀感，涕泗交流。 When the Founding Emperor accepted the abdication and Emperor Gong yielded the throne, Guang was again overcome with grief, tears streaming down his face.

謝晦見之，謂之曰：「徐公將無小過？」 Xie Hui saw this and said to him: "Master Xu, are you not going a little too far?"

廣收淚答曰：「身與君不同。 Guang wiped away his tears and replied: "My situation and yours are not the same.

永初元年，詔曰：「祕書監徐廣，學優行謹，歷位恭肅，可中散大夫。」 In the first year of Yongchu, an edict said: "Director of the Secretariat Xu Guang is superior in learning and careful in conduct, and in successive offices has been reverent and dignified; he may be appointed Grand Master of Leisure."

廣上表曰：「臣年時衰耄，朝敬永闕，端居都邑，徒增替怠。 Guang submitted a memorial saying: "I am now aged and decrepit and can no longer attend court in reverence; dwelling idly in the capital only adds to my remorse and slackness.

廣兄子豁，在良吏傳。 Guang's elder brother's son Huo is treated in the Biographies of Worthy Officials.

臧燾、徐廣、傅隆、裴松之、何承天、雷次宗，並服膺聖哲，不為雅俗推移，立名於世，宜矣。 Zang Dao, Xu Guang, Fu Long, Pei Songzhi, He Chengtian, and Lei Cizong all devoted themselves to the sages, were not swayed by fashion, and won renown in their age — as was only fitting.