Huan Tan (BC– AD28)
was a Chinese philosopher, poet, and politician of the
Western Han
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a war ...
and its short-lived interregnum between AD9 and 23, known as the
Xin Dynasty
The Xin dynasty (; ), also known as Xin Mang () in Chinese historiography, was a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty which lasted from 9 to 23 AD, established by the Han dynasty consort kin Wang Mang, who usurped the throne of the Emperor Pin ...
.
Life
Huan worked as an official under the administrations of
Emperor Ai of Han
Emperor Ai of Han (27 BCE – 15 August 1 BCE) was an emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty. He ascended the throne when he was 20, having been made heir by his childless uncle Emperor Cheng, and he reigned from 7 to 1 BCE.
The people and the o ...
(.27–1BC),
Wang Mang
Wang Mang () (c. 45 – 6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun (), was the founder and the only emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the Han dynasty and later seized the thron ...
(.AD9–23), the
Gengshi Emperor
The Gengshi Emperor (; died AD 25), born Liu Xuan (), was an emperor of the Han dynasty restored after the fall of Wang Mang's Xin dynasty brought on by the Lülin. He was also known by his courtesy name Shenggong () and as the King or Prince of H ...
(.23–25), and
Emperor Guangwu of Han
Emperor Guangwu of Han (; 15 January 5 BC – 29 March AD 57), born Liu Xiu (), courtesy name Wenshu (), was a Chinese monarch. He served as an emperor of the Han dynasty by restoring the dynasty in AD 25, thus founding the Eastern Han (Later ...
(.25–57).
Huan was a close associate of the court astronomer and mathematician
Liu Xin, as well as the author and poet
Yang Xiong.
Works
In addition to his many rhapsodies, essays, and memorials, Huan's major work was the ''Xinlun'' (新论)or ''New Discussions'', which was admired by Emperor Guangwu despite Huan Tan's besmirched reputation for having closely associated himself with the regime of the usurper Wang Mang.
His ''Xinlun'' is also the earliest text to describe the
trip hammer
A trip hammer, also known as a tilt hammer or helve hammer, is a massive powered hammer. Traditional uses of trip hammers include pounding, wikt:decorticate, decorticating and polishing of grain in agriculture. In mining, trip hammers were used f ...
device powered by
hydraulics
Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counte ...
(i.e., a
waterwheel), which was used to pound and decorticate grain.
Legacy
Huan's mode of philosophical thought belonged to an
Old Text
In Chinese language, Chinese philology, the Old Texts () refer to some versions of the Five Classics discovered during the Han Dynasty, written in archaic Chinese character, characters and supposedly produced before the To burn the classics and to ...
realist tradition. He drew explicitly on
Legalism in his writings on government, saying that in certain historical epochs harsher punishments are needed. He was supported by other contemporaries such as the
naturalist and
mechanistic
The mechanical philosophy is a form of natural philosophy which compares the universe to a large-scale mechanism (i.e. a machine). The mechanical philosophy is associated with the scientific revolution of early modern Europe. One of the first expo ...
philosopher
Wang Chong
Wang Chong (; 27 – c. 97 AD), courtesy name Zhongren (仲任), was a Chinese astronomer, meteorologist, naturalist, philosopher, and writer active during the Han Dynasty. He developed a rational, secular, naturalistic and mechanistic account ...
(27–), the latter who
Crespigny states was probably heavily influenced by Huan Tan.
[.]
Huan Tan is reported by
Yu Yingshi
Yu Ying-shih (; 22 January 1930 – 1 August 2021) was a Chinese-born American historian, sinologist, and the Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies, Emeritus, at Princeton University. He was known for his mastery of sources for Chinese h ...
(b. 1930) to uphold self-contradictory views on
immortality
Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality.
Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...
. On one hand, he is quoted to say that "the way of immortals" is a fabrication of the lovers for the strange; on the other, however, he was reported to admit the practice as genuine and efficient. Possible explanation lies in the fact that the ''Xinlun'' was a later compilation which might have confused his own statements with the quotations of his opponents.
References
Citations
Bibliography
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Further reading
*''Huan Tan'' in:
Loewe, Michael, ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods (221 BC - AD 24)'', Leiden (Brill) 2000, , pp. 164–165.
*"Hsin-Lun (New Treatise) and Other Writings by Huan T'an (43 B.C. - 28 A.D.)" Timoteus Pokora Michigan Papers in Chinese Studies NO.20 1975 Ann Arbor, Center for Chinese Studies The University of Michigan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huan, Tan
1st-century BC Chinese poets
1st-century Chinese philosophers
1st-century Chinese poets
Chinese Confucianists
Chinese non-fiction writers
Han dynasty philosophers
Han dynasty poets
Han dynasty politicians from Anhui
Legalism (Chinese philosophy)
Poets from Anhui
Politicians from Huaibei
Philosophers from Anhui
1st-century BC Chinese musicians
1st-century Chinese musicians