Xu Hun

Life

Xu Hun was a native of Danyang in Runzhou (modern Danyang, Jiangsu). Anlu appears as his ancestral home and commandery affiliation; Luoyang is also given as his native place, while another tradition places his origin in Muzhou. His lineage is described either as descending six generations from Xu Yushi, the chancellor of the Wu Zetian era, or, in another genealogy, as making Xu Yushi his grandfather. After reaching adulthood, he moved to Jingkou (modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), to Dingmao Ravine, and named his poetry collection after the place; later generations consequently called him Xu Dingmao.

He passed the Presented Scholar examination in the sixth year of the Taihe era (832). During the Kaicheng era he served as magistrate of Dangtu, acting as magistrate of both Dangtu and Taiping, and later assisted a Lingnan staff. In early Dazhong he entered the court as an Investigating Censor; another dating places his appointment in the third year of Dazhong (849). He then returned east because of illness to his villa at Dingmao Bridge, was recalled as Sima of Runzhou, and served as an auxiliary director of the Yu bu in charge of the eastern capital. His appointments also included governor of Fushui in 854 and governor of Muzhou in 855; he ended his official career as governor of Ying and Muzhou, and was said to have governed well wherever he served. He studied assiduously from youth, suffered frequent illness, and loved landscape; in later life he withdrew, because of illness, to his country residence at Dingmao Bridge. His literary exchanges with Du You, Liu Sanfu, Li Yijian, and others included the presentation of poetry and prose.

Poetry

Xu Hun wrote no old-style verse and devoted himself to regulated verse. His best subjects were antiquity and rural life; his parallel couplets were closely wrought, his command of prosody mature, and his tonal music notably harmonious. The couplet “Clouds rise from the stream as the sun sinks behind the tower; rain on the mountain approaches as the wind fills the tower” from “East Tower over Xianyang” has been recited through the ages. His poetry frequently uses water imagery, prompting the saying, “A thousand of Xu Hun’s poems are wet, while Du Fu spends a lifetime in sorrow.”

A story relates that, in his later years, Xu Hun fell asleep by day while visiting Tiantai and dreamed that a beautiful woman asked him for a poem. On waking he wrote the line “In the courtyard only Xu Feiqiong is seen”; after dreaming again that she asked, “Why inscribe my name among humanity?”, he changed it to “The heavenly wind sends down the sound of the steps of emptiness.”

Works and transmission

While living at Dingmao Bridge in the fourth year of Dazhong, Xu Hun compiled the poetry collection *Dingmao ji*, which circulated in two juan. Other associated titles include *Yi*, *Xubu*, *Xuji*, *Xu Yonghui wenji*, and *Jiwai yishi*. Standard editions include the Xu Yonghui collection in the Xugu yishu congshu series and *Dingmao ji* in the Sibu congkan series. Both the forms Yonghui (用晦) and Yonghui (用誨) occur in the titles; annotated editions include Xu Peirong’s *Dingmao ji jianzhu* and Luo Shijin’s *Dingmao ji jianzhen*.

The *Quan Tang shi* includes eleven juan of Xu’s poetry, with many pieces by others mixed in; a considerable number of Xu’s poems also entered collections of Du Mu. The *Quan Tang shi waibian* and *Quan Tang shi xushi* add four poems and two fragments. The *Shiren zhuke tu* places Xu among the four “ascending-hall” poets under Wu Yuanheng.

Later reception

Xu Hun’s later reputation was sharply divided. The Ming critic Hu Yinglin praised his brightness, ornate beauty, depth, and especially his compact workmanship, counting him among the accomplished poets of the late Tang; the Song critic Chen Shidao, by contrast, remarked that “the common people all love Xu Hun.” This divergence was attributed to changes in the prevailing tastes of the poetic world.