Qin and Han · Aristocrat

Fu Yan 傅晏

Fù Yàn

Attested BC 7 - AD 5

Passages: 16
Chapters: 4
Histories: 2

Overview

The translated histories identify Fu Yan as an aristocrat, family member, general, and official. This record brings together 16 passages from 4 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Fu Yan	傅晏	Fù Yàn
Surname	Fu	傅	Fu
Surname	Fu	傅	Fù
Personal	Fu Yan	傅晏	Fu Yan
Personal name	Fu Yan	晏	Yan
Title	Marquis of Kongxiang	孔鄉侯	Kongxiang Hou
Title	Marquis of Kongxiang Fu Yan	孔鄉侯傅晏
Given	Yan	晏	Yan
Given	Yan	晏	Yàn
Surname		傅	Fu

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · hanshu:096:s0331, houhanshu:031:s0008
Value: male
Explicit · hanshu:093:s0179

Roles

Aristocrat
Family Member
General
Official

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 哀帝之時 · Western Interval: Start: BC 7 · End: BC 1
Explicit event contextual date · houhanshu:031:s0008
Source Date: Text: 哀帝至平帝時 · Western Interval: Start: BC 7 · End: AD 5
Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:093:s0179, hanshu:093:s0071

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Parent of Empress, Daughter of Fu Yan (傅晏女皇后)
Kinship Term: daughter / 女 · Parentage: biological
Parent of Empress Fu (傅氏)
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: daughter
Parent of Fu Xi (傅喜)
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Kin of Fu Xi (傅喜)
Kinship Term: younger cousin / 從弟

Kinship Role: wife and children · Quantity: wife and multiple children; exact count unstated
Explicit · hanshu:093:s0071

Career and standing

grand marshal and general of the guards / 大司馬衛將軍
Explicit · hanshu:096:s0331
Name: Specially Advanced / 特進
Explicit · hanshu:094:s0315
Title: Marquis of Kongxiang / 孔鄉侯 · Action: held
Explicit · hanshu:093:s0179, houhanshu:031:s0008
Marquis of Kongxiang / 孔鄉侯
Explicit · hanshu:096:s0331
Name: Marquis of Kongxiang / 孔鄉侯
Explicit · hanshu:094:s0299

Places and affiliations

Place: Hepu / 合浦 · Relation: relocated-to · Companions: wife and children
Explicit · hanshu:093:s0071

Events and relationships

Type: cousin-of · Person Id: Dowager of Dingtao (定陶太后)
Explicit · hanshu:094:s0299

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Book of Han, Chapter 93Volume 82: Wang Shang, Shi Dan and Fu Xi · 2 passages

喜從弟孔鄉侯晏親與喜等，而女爲皇后。 Fu Xi's cousin, Marquis of Kongxiang Fu Yan, was close to him, and Yan's daughter was empress.

喜在國三歲余，哀帝崩，平帝即位，王莽用事，免傅氏宮爵歸故郡，晏將妻子徙合浦。 Fu Xi spent three years in his fief. After Emperor Ai died and the child Emperor Ping ascended, Wang Mang took charge, stripped the Fu clan of their titles, and sent them home; Fu Yan removed his wife and children to Hepu on the southern coast.

Book of Han, Chapter 94Volume 83: Xue Xuan and Zhu Bo · 9 passages

孔鄉侯傅晏亦太后從弟，諂諛欲順指，會博新徵用為京兆尹，與交結，謀成尊號，以廣孝道。 Her cousin Fu Yan of Kongxiang toadied to her; Zhu Bo, newly named metropolitan governor, allied with Yan to push the title through in the name of filial piety.

傅太后怨傅喜不已，使孔鄉侯晏風丞相，令奏免喜侯。 Grand Empress Dowager Fu still hated Fu Xi and sent Fu Yan to lean on the chancellor to memorialize for stripping Fu Xi of his title.

博曰：「已許孔鄉侯有指。 Zhu Bo replied, "I gave Fu Yan my word.

宣等劾奏：「博宰相，玄上卿，晏以外親封位特進，股肱大臣，上所信任，不思竭誠奉公，務廣恩化，為百寮先，皆知喜、武前已蒙恩詔決，事更三赦，博執正道，虧損上恩，以結信貴戚，背君鄉臣，傾亂政治，奸人之雄，附下罔上，為臣不忠不道； Peng Xuan and the others impeached them, saying: "Zhu Bo is chancellor, Zhao Xuan is an upper minister, and Yan, as an outside relative, holds enfeoffed rank as Specially Advanced. They are great ministers, arms and thighs of the state, trusted by the sovereign, yet they did not think to exhaust loyalty in serving the public, broaden grace and transformation, and lead the hundred offices. They all knew that Xi and Wu had already received a merciful edict and decision, and that the matter had passed through three amnesties. Bo abandoned the straight Way and damaged the sovereign's grace in order to bind trust with honored in-laws; he turned his back on the ruler and faced the ministers, overturned and disordered government, became a champion among wicked men, attached himself below and deceived above. As a minister he is disloyal and without the Way;

晏與博議免喜，失禮不敬。 Fu Yan conspired with Zhu Bo to ruin Fu Xi—another breach of propriety.

臣請詔謁者召博、玄、晏詣廷尉詔獄。」 We ask that Zhu Bo, Zhao Xuan, and Fu Yan be taken to the imperial prison under the commandant of justice."

今晏放命圯族，干亂朝政，要大臣以罔上，本造計謀，職為亂階，宜與博、玄同罪，罪皆不道。」 Fu Yan defied the throne, stirred the court, extorted senior ministers, and hatched the plot—he should share Zhu Bo and Zhao Xuan's guilt; all three are guilty of capital disloyalty."

上減玄死罪三等，削晏戶四分之一，假謁者節召丞相詣廷尉詔獄。 The emperor commuted Zhao Xuan's death sentence three steps, trimmed Fu Yan's fief by a quarter, and sent the usher with credentials to take Zhu Bo into the imperial prison.

世主已更，好惡異前，復附丁、傅稱順孔鄉。 A new emperor brought new tastes; Zhu Bo hitched himself to the Ding and Fu clans and echoed Fu Yan.

Book of Han, Chapter 96Volume 85: Gu Yong and Du Ye · 1 passage

元壽元年正月朔，上以皇后父孔鄉侯傅晏為大司馬衛將軍，而帝舅陽安侯丁明為大司馬票騎將軍。 On the new moon of the first month of Yuanshou, the emperor made the empress's father Marquis of Kongxiang Fu Yan grand marshal and general of the guards, and the emperor's uncle Marquis of Yang'an Ding Ming grand marshal and general of agile cavalry.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 31Volume 28a: Biographies of Huan Tan; Feng Yan · 4 passages

傅皇后父孔鄉侯晏深善於譚。 Fu Yan, father of Empress Fu and marquis of Kongxiang, was Huan Tan's close friend.

是時，高安侯董賢寵倖，女弟為昭儀，皇后日已疏，晏嘿嘿不得意。 Dong Xian of Gao'an was the emperor's favorite; his sister was a brilliant companion, while Empress Fu drifted daily into neglect—Fu Yan brooded in silence.

晏驚動，曰：“然，為之奈何？” Fu Yan started and said, "True enough—what should we do?"

晏曰：“善”。 Fu Yan said, "Well spoken."