Yan Yan (philosopher)
disciple of Confucius
Yan Yan (b. 506 BC), also known by his courtesy name Ziyou and as Yan You or Yanzi, was a prominent disciple of Confucius, considered by Confucius to be his most distinguished disciple in the study of the classics. A native of the state of Wu, he was the only known southerner among Confucius' disciples.
Life
Yan Yan was born in 506 BC in the State of Wu. He was 45 years younger than Confucius.
Yan Yan served as commandant of Wucheng (Wu City) in the State of Lu. He was said to have succeeded in transforming the character of the people of Wucheng by teaching them ritual propriety and music, and was praised by Confucius.
After Confucius died, Ji Kangzi, prime minister of Lu, asked Yan why Confucius was not as widely mourned as Zichan, prime minister of the State of Zheng. Yan replied, "The influences of Zichan and my master might be compared to those of overflowing water and those of fattening rain. Wherever the water in its overflow reaches, men take knowledge of it, while the fattening rain falls unobserved."
In an episode recorded in the Book of Rites, Yan Yan was invited to the funeral of Sikou Huizi (司寇惠子), a high minister of the State of Wey.
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This entry incorporates text from “Yan Yan (philosopher)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.