xǔ 许

### Xu You Zi Wuzhong, dates of birth and death unknown. He was a noble - minded hermit in ancient times, from Huaili, Yangcheng. It is said that Emperor Yao offered him the throne, but he refused and went into seclusion on Mount Jishan. When Emperor Yao wanted to offer him an official position, Xu You thought the words dirty his ears, so he washed his ears by the Ying River. After his death, he was buried on the top of Mount Jishan. Emperor Yao named him the “God of Mount Jishan” to be enshrined with the Five Sacred Mountains. ### Xu Shen (c. 58 - c. 147) Zi Shuzhong, from Zhaoling, Runan (now Yancheng, Henan). He was a Confucian scholar and philologist in the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was honest and kind - hearted, and was well - versed in the classics since childhood. He studied under Jia Kui, specializing in the ancient - script Confucian classics. His contemporaries praised him as “Xu Shuzhong, peerless in the Five Classics”. He once held the positions of Grand Commandant and South Pavilion Sacrificial Wine. He wrote *Discrepancies in the Five Classics*, which has been lost. He also wrote *Shuowen Jiezi* in fourteen volumes, the first systematic monograph on analyzing Chinese characters' forms and researching their origins in China, which had a great influence on later generations. ### Xu Jingcheng (1845 - 1900) Zi Zhuyun, from Jiaxing, Zhejiang in the Qing Dynasty. He passed the imperial examination during the Tongzhi period and was appointed as an editor. During the Guangxu period, he was sent as an envoy to Japan, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, etc. During the Gengzi Incident, he was promoted to the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Later, because he criticized the Boxers, he offended Empress Dowager Cixi and was executed. Later, he was rehabilitated and posthumously given the title of “Wen Su”. He wrote books such as *Charts of Foreign Warships*.