From restoration to unification: legitimacy and loyalty in the writings of Xu Xuan (917–992)

Works produced by Xu Xuan, a Chinese scholar-official of the tenth century, on either side of the Southern Tang–Song divide reveal the challenges on the issue of loyalty he faced in serving more than one state. Xu's works suggest that a personal transfer of service brought complications for any official seeking to write about the past, but these could be addressed according to context. Under the Song, the requirements of the new orthodoxy forced compromises and concessions in the sentiments he expressed, but he was still able to maintain reverence for the Southern Tang and its achievements.