Xu Tianmin, literary name Yu, style names Xuejiang (Xueting?) and Piaoweng, was a famous 13th century qin player in Hangzhou, then the Southern Song capital; his family was originally was from Yanling, upriver from Hangzhou.³) He is is said to be the founder of the Xumen tradition of qin play, the lineage being:

1. Xu Tianmin
   Based on Chapter 6.A. (p. 90), he was active as a qin teacher around 1285, thus probably born no later than 1250.
2. Xu Qiushan
   He is said either to have been a son or a younger contemporary of Xu Tianmin
3. Xu Xiaoshan
   Perhaps a son of Xu Qiushan, Xiaoshan is often mentioned in mid-16th century handbooks
4. Xu Hezhong
   Around 1400 he was declared one of the world's greatest qin masters; Qinshi Xu gives him a separate biography.

Zepan Yin seems to be the only melody any handbook directly attributes to Xu Tianmin as creator. Instead he is generally credited as a teacher and transmitter. He is said in particular to have learned many Shang mode melodies (q.v.), of which there are 11 in Shen Qi Mi Pu.

According to Xu Jian's Outline History, Chapter 6a3,⁴ Xu Tianmin "was very good at grass writing, and often used grass characters to write out ci poems by earlier people, expressing their indignation (at the decline of the Southern Song); in this way he expressed his own identical feelings." The Outline History goes on to say that during the years 1224/5 Xu taught Yuan Jue (this should probably be 1284/5, since the dates for Yuan Jue are given as 1266 to 1327⁵), and that at that time Yuan Jue "confirmed that the Zhejiang Tablature transmitted by Xu Tianmin was the old tablature which Guo Chuwang had obtained from the home of Han Chazhou."

Qinshu Daquan has two poems about Xu Tianmin's qin playing. See

The present entry in Qinshi Xu says only

And the entry for his descendent, Xu Shen, adds only the following about Xu Tianmin,

More to be added.

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1 徐天民，名宇，號、雪江 Xu Tianmin, literary name Yu, nicknames Xuejiang and Piaoweng. The Qinshi Xu biography of Xue Hezhong suggests Xuejiang might have been written 雪汀 Xueting.
10363.xxx; Bio/xxx (Return)

2 QSX #20, 10 lines, main heading: Yang Zuan (Return)

3 嚴陵 Yanling 4589.160: in 桐廬縣 Tonglu district (modern 嚴州 Yanzhou), about 100 km southwest from Hangzhou (up the 富春 Fuchun River) (Return)

4 See also Hsu Wenying, The Ku-Ch'in, p. 225, and the biographical essay for Xu Shen (Return)

5 The original indication of date is 甲申乙酉間; according to the Chinese sixty year cycle this could be either 1224-5 or 1284-85; the former does not accord with the dates given for Yuan Jue or other information that concerns Xu Tianmin. (Return)

6 (Return)

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