Xiao Yi’s “Xuanlan fu” as a Chronicle of Career and Talent

This study is a heavily annotated translation and discussion of Xiao Yi’s (508–555) “Xuanlan fu” (Fu on Perception of Profundity). Xiao Yi, posthumously known as Emperor Yuan of Liang (r. 552–555), was the seventh son of Emperor Wu of Liang (r. 502–549). As an ambitious prince, Xiao Yi composed the “Xuanlan fu” in 545, at the height of his official career. The composition is a retrospective poetic account of his career after he was granted the noble title of Prince of Xiangdong, signposted throughout by passages describing his moving from place to place to take up official posts over thirty-plus years.

Zhinan Chen is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Dunhuang Academy, Gansu. She received her PhD in Chinese Literature and Language from the University of Washington, Seattle. Her research interests span manuscript studies, philology, and classical Chinese textual criticism.