Xu Can, also known as Xiangping, Mingxia, and Mingshen, was born in Wu County, Jiangsu Province (now Wuzhong District and Xiangcheng District of Suzhou City). Chen Zhilin succeeded. You Yingwu, a general historian. Chen Zhilin has accompanied him twice during his two migrations. In the tenth year of Kangxi’s reign (1671), he was ordered to return the bones he had collected. In his later years, he studied Buddhism and became known as Zi?. In his early years, he was fond of singing and particularly enjoyed composing poems. She was praised by the poet Chen Weisong as the number one best girl after the Southern Song Dynasty. There are “Poems from Humble Administrator’s Garden” and “Poems from Humble Administrator’s Garden”.
徐灿，字湘蘋，又字明霞、明深，江苏吴县（今苏州市吴中区、相城区）人。陈之遴继配。幼颖悟，通书史。陈之遴两次流徙，均曾随行。康熙十年（1671），奉旨归之遴之骨。晚年学佛，更号紫?。早年雅好吟咏，尤喜为词。被词人陈维崧誉为南宋后闺秀第一。有《拙政园诗馀》《拙政园诗集》。
徐灿·《蝶恋花·每寄书素庵不到有感》
频寄锦书鸿不去。
怕近黄昏，
帘幕深深处。
一寸横波愁几许，
啼痕点点成红雨。
倚遍阑干无意绪。
闲理余香，
独自谁为语。
尽日恹恹如梦里，
斜阳一瞬人千里。
Die lian hua:
Stirred by the Frequent Loss of My Letters to Su’an
Xu Can
Often I send brocade letters, but the wild goose fails to go;
I fear the creeping of dusk
Into the depths of my curtains.
How much sadness is there in a single look?
Specks of tear stains form a shower of rouge.
I’ve leaned long over the railing, but remain listless;
Casually I trim the leftover incense
All by myself, with whom can I speak?
Through the day I feel weary as in a dream;
A flash of the setting sun and I’m a thousand miles away.
