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With an ancestry is in Jiangsi, he was born Xu Hongzu (宏祖), as the second son of Xu Yu'an (徐豫庵, 1545-1694) and Wang Ruren (王孺人, 1545-1625). It was often commented that it was his mother's encouragement to travel that shaped Xu's predilections. His sobriquet is Zhenzhi (振之). Xiake was an alternate sobriquet (別號) given to him by his friend Chen Jiru (陳繼儒, 1558-1639) and it means "one who is in the sunset clouds". His other friend, Huang Daozhou (黃道周, 1585-1646), also gave Xu an alternate sobriquet: Xiayi (霞逸), meaning "untrammelled in the sunset clouds".
He travelled with a servant called Gu Xing (顧行).
Chinese writers Xiake, Xu Xiake, Xu