Yuan An

The stele in Yuan An's memory was discovered in 1929.

Yuán Ān ( Chinese  袁 安 ), court name Shàogōng ( 邵 公 ; † April 9, 92 AD), was a Chinese scholar, administrator and politician of the Han dynasty . He served at the court of Emperors Zhang and He . With him began the rise of the Yuan family from Ru'nan to one of the most powerful clans of the Han dynasty.

Life

Early life and career

Yuan An was born in Ruyang ( 汝陽 ) in the Ru'nan commandant's office ( 汝南 ; near today's Shangshui , Henan Province ) as a scion of a noble family. His grandfather Yuan Liang ( 袁 良 ), who had worked in the administration since 25 AD, taught him with his Book of Changes . Yuan An soon made a name for himself in his homeland through his scholarship. After gaining experience in administrative activities  , he was named "Xiaolian" ( Chinese  孝廉 - "childlike and incorruptible") on April 14, 1960 by the Ruyang City Council and moved to Luoyang to serve at the imperial court. In the year 62 he left the capital again and held the minor office of overseer and later administrator of the eastern provinces for eight years. On February 2, 1970, Yuan An was appointed Grand Administrator of the Chu Commandantry and was assigned to monitor Liu Ying , the prince of Chu. This was accused of heresy and treason . After the investigation ended and Liu Ying's death the following year, Emperor Ming was very pleased with Yuan An and recalled him to the capital on September 18, '74. There he awarded him the title of Intendant of He'nan , which was associated with executive responsibilities in the capital region. The Book of the Later Han comments on his position: "The great lords of the capital respected him, and his name carried weight at the imperial court."

At the Kaiserhof and the northern border

On August 12, 1983, Yuan An was promoted to the Great Coachman , one of the Nine Ministers. In the following years he played an important role in the foreign policy discussions at court and exerted intensive influence on the decisions of the emperor with regard to the northern border, in order to emphasize the position of the Han Empire towards its northern neighbors. In 85 he pleaded at a meeting for a more diplomatic policy towards the Xiongnu , but had to accept the resistance of Grand Commander Zheng Hong ( 鄭 弘 ) and Labor Minister Diwu Lun ( 第五 倫 ). Yuan An emphasized the importance of marriage alliances and hostage-taking . The next year, Emperor Zhang promoted him to Labor Minister instead of Diwu Lun, and on July 31, 87, to Minister of Abundance.

After the death of Emperor Zhang in 88 and the coronation of his ten-year-old son, the political landscape changed rapidly. The young emperor's regents, Empress Mother Dou and her brother Dou Xian , pushed for a more aggressive policy against the Xiongnu and prepared for war. Yuan An and Grand Commander Su You, Minister of Labor Ren Wei ( 任 隗 ) and the Nine Ministers submitted a memorandum condemning a campaign against the north. His argument was that such a distant expedition would only consume necessary resources, especially since the Xiongnu had been quiet for a long time. But the Empress Mother Dou sent a three-brigade expeditionary force northwards against his and the minister's resistance. In the summer of 89 the army defeated the northern Chanyu near Mount Jiluo and pursued it westward to the Altai . The destruction of the Northern Xiongnu in a second offensive in 91 created a power vacuum in the north that the Chinese dynasty would fight for for two centuries.

Yuan An died in 92. A few months later, the Dou clan fell victim to a coup d'état by Emperor Hes, who posthumously honored Yuan An and gave his eldest son Yuan Shang ( 袁 賞 ) a post in the capital. Yuan Anan's two younger sons Yuan Jing ( 袁 京 ) and Yuan Chang ( 袁 敞 ) even became grand administrators and labor ministers. Three generations after Yuan An, the Yuan clan from Ru'nan would develop into a major power factor in northern China, holding high posts and exerting great influence on the upper class. After the collapse of Han rule in 189, Yuan Ans Altenkel Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu developed into powerful warlords .

The Yuan-An-Stele

In 1929, a stele containing key dates about Yuan An's life was uncovered in the Yanshi District ( 偃師 ) of Henan Province . It was erected around 117, a quarter of a century after his death, making it the earliest evidence of monumental steles in China. The 137.5 cm high and 71.5 cm wide stele is now in the Henan Provincial Museum. The dates mentioned about Yuan An's offices and death are not recorded in the Later Han Book . A similar stele for Yuan An's son Yuan Chang was found in 1923. The two steles were erected in the same place.