Qin and Han · Scholar and Official

Xu Yan 徐偃

Attested BC 140 - BC 100

Passages: 15
Chapters: 3
Histories: 2

Overview

Xu Yan was a scholar and Official.

Life and dates

Attested activity

BC 116 to BC 111 元鼎中
Dated from the passage context · Book of Han 75, passages 86, 89, 107
BC 140 to BC 100 弟子為博士者
Dated from the passage context · Records of the Grand Historian 121, passage 89
BC 114 自造白金五銖錢後五歲
Dated from the passage context · Records of the Grand Historian 30, passages 172, 176

Key source chapters

Career and standing

Assistant to the Chamberlain for Ceremonials 太常丞
BC 116 to BC 111 元鼎中 · Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Han 75, passage 88
Erudite 博士
BC 116 to BC 111 元鼎中 · Held
Directly stated · Book of Han 75, passage 86
Commandant of Jiaoxi 膠西中尉
Held
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 121, passage 89
Erudite 博士
Held
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 30, passage 176; Records of the Grand Historian 121, passage 89
Admitted
Capital liability
Directly stated · Book of Han 75, passages 89, 107
forging an edict with grave harm, capital offense 矯制大害，法至死
BC 116 to BC 111 元鼎中 · Impeachment · Charged · Authority Zhang Tang (張湯)
Directly stated · Book of Han 75, passage 89

Places and affiliations

Polity Western Han 漢 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Book of Han 75, passage 86
Polity Western Han 西漢 · Relation Served
Strongly inferred · Records of the Grand Historian 30, passage 176
Polity Western Han 西漢 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 121, passage 89
At Jiaodong 膠東 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · Book of Han 75, passage 87
At Lu 魯國 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · Book of Han 75, passage 87

Works and attributed material

Defense · Speaker · Paraphrased · Mode self-report Speaker Xu Yan (徐偃)
Directly stated · Book of Han 75, passage 90

Events and relationships

Confessed guilt deserving death
Legal · Defendant
Directly stated · Book of Han 75, passage 107
Forged edict for salt iron in Jiaodong and Lu
BC 116 to BC 111 元鼎中 · Legal · Offender · At Jiaodong and Lu 膠東、魯國
Directly stated · Book of Han 75, passage 87
Sent to tour customs
BC 116 to BC 111 元鼎中 · Inspection · Envoy
Directly stated · Book of Han 75, passage 86
Toured commanderies and kingdoms to expose enriching governors and annexers
Administrative · Inspector · With Chu Da (褚大)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 30, passage 176
Relation Student of · Person Master Shen (申公)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 121, passage 89

Assessments and attributes

Assessment showed integrity and propriety in governance; praised for devotion to learning · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 121, passage 90

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Book of Han 75, passage 86; Records of the Grand Historian 30, passage 176; Records of the Grand Historian 121, passage 89

References in the histories

Search passages

History

15 passages

Book of Han, Chapter 75Volume 64b: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 2 · 13 passages

元鼎中，博士徐偃使行風俗。 During the Yuanding era the court scholar Xu Yan was dispatched to inspect local customs.

偃矯制，使膠東、魯國鼓鑄鹽鐵。 Xu Yan forged imperial orders and had Jiaodong and Lu cast iron and boil salt on their own.

御史大夫張湯劾偃矯制大害，法至死。 Imperial Counselor Zhang Tang impeached him for counterfeiting orders with grave consequences—a capital crime.

偃以為春秋之義，大夫出疆，有可以安社稷，存萬民，顓之可也。 Xu Yan cited the Spring and Autumn principle that a minister abroad may act on his own authority if the altars and the lives of the people hang in the balance.

有詔下軍問狀，軍詰偃曰：「古者諸侯國異俗分，百里不通，時有聘會之事，安危之勢，呼吸成變，故有不受辭造命顓己之宜； An edict ordered Zhong Jun to examine the case. He questioned Xu Yan: 'In ancient times each feudal state kept its own ways; a hundred li might as well have been a world apart. Envoys hurried between courts because fortune could turn in a breath, so a minister might rightly assume emergency powers without waiting for a written order.

偃巡封域之中，稱以出疆何也？ You never left the emperor's domain—how can you call that "crossing the border"?

又詰偃：「膠東南近琅邪，北接北海，魯國西枕泰山，東有東海，受其鹽鐵。 Zhong Jun pressed further: 'Jiaodong borders Langye to the south and Beihai to the north; Lu lies against Mount Tai in the west and the Eastern Sea in the east—both regions already draw salt and iron from their own ground.

偃度四郡口數田地，率其用器食鹽，不足以并給二郡邪？ If you reckoned the population and acreage of the four neighboring commanderies, could their usual tools and salt rations not have supplied both kingdoms?

偃矯制而鼓鑄者，欲及春耕種贍民器也。 You forged orders to cast tools, you say, so peasants would have iron for the spring planting.

偃已前三奏，無詔，不惟所為不許，而直矯作威福，以從民望，干名采譽，此明聖所必加誅也。 You had already memorialized three times and received no imperial reply. Not only were you never authorized to act, you forged orders, threw your weight about, pandered to popular opinion, and traded on moral prestige for personal fame—conduct that any enlightened ruler would punish with death.

今所犯罪重，所就者小，偃自予必死而為之邪？ Your offense is grave and your supposed public benefit slight. Did you expect execution and press ahead anyway?

偃窮詘，服罪當死。 Xu Yan had no answer left; he confessed and accepted that he deserved death.

軍奏「偃矯制顓行，非奉使體，請下御史徵偃即罪。」 Zhong Jun memorialized: 'Xu Yan falsely invoked imperial authority and acted on his own. This is not the proper conduct of an envoy. I request that the matter be sent down to the Imperial Clerk, and that Xu Yan be summoned to answer for his crime.'

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 30Treatise on the Balanced Standard · 1 passage

犯者眾，吏不能盡誅取，於是遣博士褚大、徐偃等分曹循行郡國，舉兼并之徒守相為（吏）［利］者。 There were so many violators that the officials could not punish and confiscate from them all. The court therefore sent the erudites Chu Da, Xu Yan, and others in separate groups to inspect the commanderies and kingdoms and expose those who enriched themselves as governors or ministers by joining with powerful annexers.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 121Biographies of Confucian Scholars · 1 passage

弟子為博士者十餘人：孔安國至臨淮太守，周霸至膠西內史，夏寬至城陽內史，碭魯賜至東海太守，蘭陵繆生至長沙內史，徐偃為膠西中尉，鄒人闕門慶忌為膠東內史。 More than ten of his disciples became erudites: Kong Anguo rose to Governor of Linhuai, Zhou Ba to Metropolitan Governor of Jiaoxi, Xia Kuan to Metropolitan Governor of Chengyang, Lu Ci of Dang to Governor of Donghai, Master Miao of Lanling to Metropolitan Governor of Changsha, Xu Yan to Commandant of Jiaoxi, and Quemen Qingji of Zou to Metropolitan Governor of Jiaodong.