Xu Jian is one of the most famous living scholars of the guqin. He was born in Hebei Province in 1923 and studied at the Qingmuguan Conservatory of Music in Chongqing from 1942 to 1946. After graduating he took a teaching post there. From 1954 until his retirement he worked at the Chinese Music Research Academy. In 1985 he received a research fellowship from the China Culture Department. Xu Jian carried out research under the guidance of qin masters Yang Yinliu, Zha Fuxi and Guan Pinghu. He is one of the two chief editors of the two volume "Guqin Quji" ("Collect of guqin scores transcribed into staff notation. In 1982 he published "Qin Shi Chubian" ("A preliminary History of the Qin"). This is the only monograph on the history of the guqin so far published.

He has published more than 30 papers on the qin and transcribed more than 20 traditional pieces of qin music, as well as arranging two pieces, "Liu Shui" ("Flowing Waters") and "Yu Qiao Wen Da" ("Dialogue of the Fisherman and the Woodcutter") for other traditional Chinese instruments and for a quartet of Chinese instruments. He has been vice president of the Beijing Guqin Research Society since 1956, and is now consultant to the North American Guqin Association.