During the Southern Dynasties, Emperor Wu of Liang accepted the surrender of Hou Jing, a general from the Western Wei. However, Hou Jing later rebelled, capturing the capital city and intending to starve Emperor Wu and the city's inhabitants to death.

Xu Ling, a scholar, had his father trapped inside the besieged city. Deeply worried, Xu Ling wrote a letter to Yang Zunyan, a high-ranking official (仆射), pleading for his father's release.

In his letter, Xu Ling vividly depicted the profound grief and pain of facing a separation as agonizing and final as death (生离死别) from his dear father, movingly portraying the desperate hope to avert such a tragic fate.