10th century, bibliography, book, canon, China, Chinese, East Asia, historical figure, primary source, Southern Tang
The Song dynasty Ma Ling (fl. c. 1105) wrote a history of the Southern Tang, a short-lived dynasty (937-75) which was one of the Ten States in southern China in the 10th century. Among its imperial and other biographies, there is one folio dedicated to jesters, the...
4th century BCE, biography, China, Chinese, East Asia, historical figure
Chunyu Kun 淳于髡 (‘Baldy Chunyu’) is one the jesters included in Sima Qian’s (145-c. 86 b.c.) ‘Accounts of Jesters’ in the Historical Records. He served at the court of Weiwang of Qi (c. 356-319 BCE) and used wit and other forms of...
2nd century BCE, bibliography, book, canon, China, Chinese, East Asia, Han dynasty, historical figure, primary source, Qin dynasty
There are a hundred ways to kick off a canon*, and one on fools and jesters could trigger as much argument about what should be included as any other body of essential works on a given topic. One advantage of slow-mo online accretion is that it is never final and so...
10th century, China, Chinese, East Asia, historical figure, primary source, quotes, Southern Tang, stories
A common target of the jester’s biting humour is royal and ministerial nepotism. The younger brothers of Emperor Yuanzong of the Southern Tang 南唐元宗 (r. 943-61) all had titles and favours bestowed on them while his ministers didn’t. The jester Li Jiaming...
10th century, 7th century BCE, China, Chinese, East Asia, historical figure, primary source, quotes, Southern Tang, stories
In China, as in Europe, there are examples of jesters addressing the delicate issue of the ruler’s neglecting affairs of state due to over indulgence in wine or other distractions. We’ll be sharing these in the coming months, but for now, in general they...
15th century, China, Chinese, East Asia, historical figure, Ming dynasty, primary source, quotes, stories
During the reign of Emperor Ming Xianzong 明宪宗 (r. 1468-87), Zhu Yong (朱永), Duke of Baoguo, ran twelve military camps and used conscripted soldiers to repair his vast residence. The jester Brother Clown (A Chou 阿丑) used an historical allusion to expose his...
10th century, China, Chinese, East Asia, historical figure, primary source, quotes, stories
Following the accession of Emperor Taizu of the Later Liang 後梁太祖 (r. 907-912), a jester used an indirect way to criticize an unfair tax using the reductio ad absurdum technique; this involves taking a policy or idea to a logical extreme to demonstate its absurdity, a...
8th century, China, Chinese, East Asia, historical figure, primary source, quotes, stories, Tang dynasty
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong (r. 713-56), his beloved consort (and one of the most famous in Chinese history), Yang Guifei, showed great favouritism towards her `adopted’ son, An Lushan, the man who later instigated a rebellion which brought down the...
