Hé Yàn 何晏 (ca. 195–249)
Zì Píngshū 平叔. Native of Wǎn 宛 (modern Nányáng 南陽, Hénán) — son of Hé Xián 何咸, grandson of Hé Jìn 何進 (the late-Hàn Dàjiāngjūn 大將軍). His mother Yǐnshì 尹氏 was taken by Cáo Cāo 曹操 as concubine after Hé Jìn’s death, and Hé Yàn was raised in Cáo Cāo’s household with the Wèi princes; later married Cáo Cāo’s daughter (the Princess Jīnxiāng 金鄉公主), and was thus a Wèi imperial son-in-law (fùmǎdōuwèi 駙馬都尉).
A leading figure of Zhèngshǐ 正始 metaphysical conversation (xuánxué 玄學), with Wáng Bì 王弼 (226–249) and others in the so-called Zhèngshǐ school. Hé Yàn rose to shàngshū 尚書 under the regent Cáo Shuǎng 曹爽 (regent for the young Wèi emperor); when Sīmǎ Yì 司馬懿 deposed Cáo Shuǎng in the Gāopínglíng coup of 249, Hé Yàn was implicated and executed (with the zú — clan extermination).
Surviving works in Kanripo:
- KR1h0005 Lúnyǔ jíjiě 論語集解 (10 juàn, SBCK) — Hé Yàn’s jíjiě compilation, the earliest surviving Lúnyǔ commentary (assembling the glosses of Kǒng Ānguó 孔安國, Bāo Xián 包咸, Zhōu shì 周氏, Mǎ Róng 馬融, Zhèng Xuán 鄭玄, Chén Qún 陳群, Wáng Sù 王肅, Zhōu Shēngliè 周生烈 and his own).
- KR1h0006 Lúnyǔ jíjiě yìshū 論語集解義疏 (10 juàn, WYG) — Liáng-period 皇侃 (Huáng Kǎn) sub-commentary on Hé Yàn’s jíjiě.
- KR1h0007 Lúnyǔ zhùshū 論語注疏 (20 juàn, WYG) — Sòng zhùshū incorporating Hé Yàn’s jíjiě, Lù Démíng’s 陸德明 yīnyì, and Xíng Bǐng’s 邢昺 zhèngyì.
Beyond the Lúnyǔ jíjiě, Hé Yàn is the conventional author (with Wáng Bì) of the lost Lǎozǐ DàoDé Lùn 老子道德論 and the surviving philosophical fragments — Wúmíng lùn 無名論 and Dào lùn 道論 — preserved in Lièzǐ Zhāng Zhàn zhù 列子張湛注 and elsewhere. He is also the principal subject of the opening Yǔlín 語林 anecdotes in Liú Yìqìng’s Shìshuō xīnyǔ 世說新語. His role in establishing the xuánxué movement, with its appropriation of Lǎozǐ and Yìjīng metaphysical vocabulary, was foundational for the Six Dynasties philosophical tradition.
(Hé Yàn does not appear in CBDB; the dates 195–249 follow the standard chronologies derived from the Sānguózhì 三國志 Wèi shū 9 Cáo Shuǎng zhuàn 曹爽傳 附傳.)