Xu Zhimo
Chinese poet (1897-1931)
Xu Zhimo (徐志摩, Wu Chinese pronunciation: [ʑi tsɿ mu], Mandarin: [ɕy̌ ʈʂî mwǒ], 15 January 1897 – 19 November 1931) was a Chinese poet. Best known for his work in modern Chinese poetry, he strove to loosen Chinese poetry from its traditional forms, incorporating influences from Western poetry and writing in vernacular Chinese. He died in a plane crash at age 34.
Biography
Xu Zhimo has several names. He is most known as Xú Zhìmó (徐志摩; Wu IPA: ʑi tsɿ mu, Wu pinyin: Zhi Tsymu; Mandarin IPA: [ɕǔ ʈʂî mwǒ], Wades-Giles: Hsü Chih-mo), while he was born Xú Zhāngxù (徐章垿) with the courtesy name Yǒusēn (槱森).
Xu was born in Haining, Zhejiang and graduated from Hangzhou High School, a well-known school in Southern China. He married Zhang Youyi in 1915 and attended Peiyang University in 1916 (now Tianjin University) to study law. In 1917, he moved to Peking University (PKU) due to the law department of Peiyang University merging into PKU. In 1918, he traveled to the United States to earn his bachelor's degree at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he took up a major in political and social sciences, along with a minor in history.
Shortly afterward, he enrolled at Columbia University in New York to pursue a graduate degree in economics and politics in 1919. He left New York in 1920, having found the U.S. "intolerable", to go study in England at London School of Economics.
The public source identifies “Xu Zhimo” as chinese poet (1897-1931). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Zhimo, Chinese and poet.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Xu Zhimo”, the useful work is to connect “chinese poet (1897-1931)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q557551. VIAF identifies the subject as 19829946. The Library of Congress control number is n80150350. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1897, 1931, 1915 and 1916.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Xu Zhimo”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Xu Zhimo primary sources, Xu Zhimo archive and Zhimo research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Xu Zhimo”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Xu Zhimo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.