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·《满江红·将至京寄素庵》
柳岸欹斜，
帆影外、
东风偏恶。
人未起，
旅愁先到，
晓寒时作。
满目河山牵旧恨，
茫茫何处藏舟壑。
记玉萧、
金管振中流，
今非昨。
春尚在，
衣怜薄。
鸿去尽，
书难托。
叹征途憔悴，
病腰如削。
咫尺玉京人未见，
又还负却朝来约。
料残更、
无语把青编，
愁孤酌。
Man jiang hong:
Sent to Su’an upon Approaching the Capital
Xu Can
The willow bank leans aslant;
From beyond the sail’s shadow the east wind is blowing hard.
The traveler’s sorrow comes before the body rises;
Now and then the dawn chill stirs.
Before my eyes the rivers and hills draw an old grief;
Vast and dim where in the ravine can I hide my boat?
I recall how jade flutes and golden pipes resonated in midstream
But the present is not the past.
Spring is still here;
My clothes are woefully thin.
The wild geese are gone;
There is no messenger for my letter.
Alas, the journey has made me wan and sallow,
My sickly waist as though pared.
It is a stone’s throw from the capital, but he hasn’t appeared,
Again missing our morning appointment.
Perhaps in the dying watch I’ll read a book in silence
And drink a sad cup alone.
