Page 137 - Gan's Family History

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there is a tablet inscription Eulogy to
the Restoration written by the great
calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty,
Yan Zhenqing (709-785), which has
40
attracted enthusiastic visitors ever
since.
Generally known as a great
calligrapher, Yan Zhenqing was
actually also a distinguished
statesman, and he wrote Eulogy to
the Restoration when he served at his
local post in Fuzhou after the
suppression of the An-Shi Rebellion,
in which he played a positive role.
Yan Zhenqing was from
Wannian of Chang'an (in present
Xi'an of Shaanxi) with the courtesy
name Qingchen. His great-great-
grandfather, Yan Zhitui, was a
celebrated scholar in the period of Picture extracted from the book “100
the Northern and Southern chinese Scholars” by illustrator Lu
dynasties. Yanguang

After the death of his father,
Yan Weizhen, when he was only
three, his mother and the 10 children
of the family relied on his maternal
grandfather's family for a living.
Under the guidance of his mother
and cousin, Yan Zhenqing was able
to write good articles in excellent
script in his early teens.
In 734, 26-year-old Yan
Zhenqing passed the Jinshi degree
national examination. With excellent
records in another examination held
by the Ministry of Civil Official
Administration two years later, he
was appointed editor of the imperial
secretariat. Recommended by an
important local official, he sat for a

40 Extracted from the book “ 100 Chinese Scholars” –
written by Wu Boheng / Translated by Wang Xuewen &
Sui Yun. Published by Asiapac Books, Singapore