Life

Born in Ju County, Beihai Commandery (east of present-day Lechang, Shandong), Xu Gan developed a reputation for good memory and diligent studies as a youth. Around 189, Xu Gan left his residence in Linzi and went into hiding on the Jiaodong peninsula.

Literature

• John Makeham, Name and Actuality in Early Chinese History. State University of New York Press, Albany, 1994.

Translations

• Balanced Discourses: a Bilingual Edition. English translation by John Makeham; Introductions by Dan Shengyuan and John Makeham. Yale University Press, 2002.

生平

建安初年，曹操召授司空軍師祭酒掾屬，又轉五官中郎將文學。建安中，因病辭職，曹操特加旌命表彰。後又授以上艾長，但也因病謝絕。

徐幹本人擅長辭賦，能作詩，其七言詩妙絕當時，有＂五琳（陳琳）七幹＂之稱。其主要著作是《中論》，當時曹丕稱讚此書「成一家之言，辭義典雅，足傳於後。」（《與吳質書》）。其《玄猿賦》、《漏卮詞》、《枳橘賦》、《團扇賦》……等，曾被曹丕評為「雖張（張衡）、蔡（蔡邕）不過也」（《典論·論文》）建安七子中只有徐幹以《中論》數卷跳脫建安七子的泥濘，成一家言。

建安二十三年（公元218年)，瘟疫流行，與陳琳、應瑒、劉楨等人同染疫疾而亡，享年四十八歲。