On this page
Overview Names Identity Roles Life and dates Career and standing Works and attributed material Events and relationships Assessments and attributes References in the histories
Overview The translated histories identify Zhang Yan as a commentator and scholar. This record brings together 4 passages from 2 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.
Names Type English Chinese Pinyin
Personal
Zhang Yan
張晏
Zhang Yan
Alternate
Master Zhang
張氏
Surname
Zhang
張
Zhang
Surname
Zhang
張
Zhāng
Personal name
Zhang Yan
張晏
Zhāng Yàn
Identity
Historicity Historical
Identification Named
Sex Male Life and dates Attested activity Works and attributed material Kind: commentary ·
Role: author ·
Provenance: Mode: commentator-judgmentSpeaker Person Id: Zhang Yan (張晏) Assessments and attributes Assessment: Laozi was a great worthy though not a sage; ranking criticisms of Ban Gu's nine-grade table ·
Other Person Id: Ban Gu (班) ·
Provenance: Mode: commentator-judgmentSpeaker Person Id: Zhang Yan (張晏) References in the histories Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.
Book of Han, Chapter 20 Table of Ancient and Modern Persons · 2 passages
張晏曰：「老子玄默，仲尼所師，雖不在聖，要為大賢，文伯之母達於禮典，動為聖人所歎，言為後世所則，而在第四。田單以即墨孤城復強齊之大，魯連之博通，忽於榮利，藺子申威秦王，退讓廉頗，乃在第五。大姬巫怪，好祭鬼神，陳人化之，國多淫祀，寺人孟子違於大雅，以保其身，旣被宮刑，怨刺而作，乃在第三。嫪毐上烝，昬亂禮度，惡不忍聞，乃在第七。其餘差違紛錯不少，略舉揚較，以起失謬。獨馳騖於數千歲之中，旁觀諸子，事業未究，而尋遇竇氏之難，使之然乎？」
Zhang Yan said, "Laozi was deep and silent, and Confucius regarded him as a teacher. Though not ranked among sages, he surely counts as a great worthy. Wenbo's mother mastered the ritual classics; the sage praised her conduct and later ages took her words as a model—yet she appears in the fourth grade. Tian Dan restored great Qi from the isolated city of Jimo; Lu Lian was broadly learned yet disdained fame and profit; Lord Lin awed the King of Qin and yielded to Lian Po—yet they are placed in the fifth grade. Great Ji practiced sorcery and loved sacrificing to ghosts and spirits; the people of Chen were transformed by her and the state was full of improper cults. The eunuch Mengzi, turning from the great elegant style to preserve himself—after castration, wrote in resentment—yet is placed in the third grade. Lao Ai committed incest at court and threw ritual order into chaos, in deeds too foul to bear hearing—yet he is placed in the seventh grade. Discrepancies and errors are many; I have cited a few to expose the faults. Did he gallop alone across thousands of years, looking on at the various masters while his work remained unfinished, then soon meet the Dou family's disaster—and did that make it turn out this way?"
師古曰：「六家之論，輕重不同；百行所存，趣拾難壹。張氏輒申所見，掎摭班史，然其所論，又自差錯。且年代乆遠，墳典隟亡，學者舛駮，師論分異，是以表載古人名氏，或與諸書不同。今則特有發明，用暢厥旨。自女媧以下，帝鴻以前，諸子傳記，互有舛駮，敘說不同，無所取正，大要知其古帝之號而已。諸人士見於史傳，彰灼可知者，無待解釋，其間幽昧者，時復及焉。」
Yan Shigu said, "The six schools' doctrines differ in what they value; the conduct preserved across the hundred practices is hard to gather into one standard. Master Zhang then set forth his own views, picking at Ban Gu's history—yet his arguments are themselves mistaken. Moreover, the ages are distant, canonical texts have gaps and losses, scholars contradict one another, and teachers' explanations diverge; for this reason the names recorded in the table may differ from other books. Here I add explanations of my own to make the meaning clear. From Nüwa down to before Emperor Hong, the various masters' records conflict and their accounts differ, with no way to decide which is right; in general one need only know the designations of the ancient emperors. Persons who appear in historical records and are plainly identifiable need no commentary; where matters are obscure, I sometimes explain them."
Book of Han, Chapter 22 Volume 20: Prominent People from the Past Until the Present · 2 passages