Yan An 嚴安 (www.chinaknowledge.de)

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Han Dynasty

Jan 24, 2012 © Ulrich Theobald

Yan An 嚴安, actual name Zhuang An 莊安 (his family name was changed in order to avoid the tabooed personal name of Emperor Ming 漢明帝, r. 57-75 CE, Liu Zhuang 劉莊), was an official of the mid-Former Han period 前漢 (206 BCE-8 CE).

He hailed from Linzi 臨淄 (modern Linzi, Shandong) and was a scribe of the Counsellor-in-chief (chengxiang 丞相) of Emperor Wu 漢武帝 (r. 141-87 BCE). He once dared submitting a memorial to the throne that the currently planned expedition against the steppe federation of the Xiongnu 匈奴 would not be profitable, and Emperor Wu invited him to a court audience. Yan An was promoted to gentleman of the interior (langzhong 郎中) and later to commandant of cavalry (jima ling 騎馬令).

This memorial text is also known as the book Yan An shu 嚴安書. It is included in the collection Yuhan shanfang jiyi shu 玉函山房輯佚書 by the Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Ma Guohan 馬國翰.

Sources:

Cang Xiuliang 倉修良, ed. (1996). Hanshu cidian 漢書辭典 (Jinan: Shandong jiaoyu chubanshe), 1104.

Huang Huixian 黃惠賢, ed. (1997). Ershiwushi renming da cidian 二十五史人名大辭典 (Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou guji chubanshe), Vol. 1, 52.

Zhang Huizhi 張撝之, Shen Qiwei 沈起煒, Liu Dezhong 劉德重, ed. (1999). Zhongguo lidai renming da cidian 中國歷代人名大辭典 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe), Vol. 1, 812.

Zhang Ke 張克, Huang Kangai 黃康白, Huang Fangdong 黃方東, eds. (1991). Shiji renwu cidian 史記人物辭典 (Nanning: Guangxi renmin chubanshe), 382.