A native of Ningbo, Xu Shidong is also named as Dingyu, Tongshu or Liuquan. A distinguished bibliophile, poet and calligrapher, he extensively searched related literature to inscribe six local chronicles of Siming in the Song-Yuan Dynasties and compiled Yinxian Chronicles in line with the then official standard, pioneering in Ningbo literary circle for more than three decades. His book collections underwent several misfortunes in his libraries, the first one called Yanyulou Tower while the last one Shuibei Pavilion which was transferred to the southern garden of Tianyige Museum in 1990s.