Shu Xu

Background

Xu Shu was born in 135 in Gansu Province. There is no exact information about her parents. Some sources said that she had brothers, but there is no information about them.

Career

Xu Shu was a wife of the famous poet Qin Jia. There is no information about the date of their marriage. However, it is said that Xu Shu was a fine match for Qin Jia as she also was a gifted writer.

Qin Jia was an accounts clerk and after their marriage, he was promoted to a position in Luoyang. Xu Shu fell ill, however, and returned to her parents’ home to recuperate. She stayed at her parents' house and Qin Jia sent her a series of three poems instead, entitled "Poems for My Wife". Xu Shu, in her turn, responded by sending him poems of her own. These poems became very famous.

Unfortunately, after serving for several years in Luoyang, where he rose to the position of Gentleman of the Palace Gate, Qin Jia fell ill and died. Xu Shu was pressured by her brothers to remarry, but she was determined to remain true to the memory of her husband. She mutilated her face and went into mourning for the rest of her life. She also adopted a boy and raised him as her son.

Achievements

• Xu Shu was one of the famous characters of Chinese literature. She was a gifted writer as her poems are well balanced in terms of rationality and emotion. Xu Shu’s prose has also been much admired. Her three letters collected in Quan Shanggu Sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen are of great literary value and in terms of rhetoric outstrip her famous poem.

Personality

Xu Shu was elegant and refined and wrote her poems with natural grace.

Quotes from others about the person

• Among the wise and able women of the Eastern Han... A refined poet, she distinguished herself with her talent and her virtue. Conforming with propriety, her words were a model for others.

Connections

Xu Shu was a wife of Qin Jia. As Xu Shu didn't have any children of her own, she adopted a boy and raised him as her son.

husband:

Qin Jia

Qin Jia, also known as Ch'in Chia, was a Chinese poet of the Eastern Han dynasty.

References

• New Songs from a Jade Terrace: An Anthology of Early Chinese Love Poetry Translated from Chinese by Anne Birrell.
  1987
• Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. - 618 C.E This new volume of the "Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women" spans more than 2,000 years from antiquity to the early seventh century. It recovers the stories of more than 200 women, nearly all of them unknown in the West.
  1998