安

CIVILIZATION DOSSIER

An Lushan安禄山

TangHistory × Fiction

An Lushan was a barbarian from Yingzhou, adopted son of Zhang Shougui, served as Military Governor of Pinglu, had an illicit affair with Yang Guifei and acknowledged her as his mother, later was appointed Military Governor of three towns and Prince of Dongping, grew arrogant and plotted rebellion, raised troops under the pretext of eliminating Chancellor Yang, captured the eastern capital and proclaimed himself Emperor of Great Yan.

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DIRECT FIGURES
34
RELATION RECORDS
64
SOURCE WORKS
3

RELATIONSHIP COMPASS

An Lushan, and the people around them.

Open one chapter at a time. Each chapter gives the relationship first, then the source text behind it.

01
KINSHIP

Kinship

Blood, marriage and sworn bonds

3 figures · 4 records
02
ALLEGIANCE

Allegiance

Rulers, appointments and allegiance

7 figures · 10 records
4 more in the complete record
03
CONFLICT

Conflict

Battles, captures and defeat

17 figures · 23 records
14 more in the complete record
04
THE UNSEEN

Mythic acts

Transformation, aid and divine punishment

3 figures · 3 records
Complete relationships and verbatim sources ↓Open in the civilization atlas ↗

12 key relationships are shown here. The complete record remains below.

In history · Old Book of Tang

Instigator of the An Lushan Rebellion, was suppressed by Tang forces. Rebel leader, captured the capital. Military Governor of Fanyang, later rebelled, appointed Zhang Ji as puppet chancellor.

In fiction · New Book of Tang · Romance of Sui and Tang

Barbarian from Yingzhou, adopted son of Zhang Shougui, later Military Governor of Pinglu, had illicit affair with Yang Guifei. Frontier general, acknowledged Yang as mother, had illicit affair, grew powerful. Lover of Yang Guifei, secretly alluded to by Gao Lishi.

Across source works

How this figure changes across texts

Works are shown side by side, not as a chronology. No influence between texts is inferred.

  1. Official history

    Old Book of Tang

    53 profile notes
    24 relations38 verified quotations
    • Emperor Xuanzong of Tang→ favor →An Lushan
    • Emperor Xuanzong of Tang→ ruler-subject →An Lushan
    • An Lushan→ rebel →Emperor Suzong of Tang
    • Guo Ziyi→ attack →An Lushan
    Verified original text · 38
    1. 尤加宠异

      special favor · Old Book of Tang, 刘幽求锺绍京郭元振张说传

    2. 上深宠之。

      favor · Old Book of Tang, 后妃上

    36 more verified quotations in the relationship records below.

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  2. Literature / legend

    Romance of Sui and Tang

    25 profile notes
    14 relations24 verified quotations
    • Emperor Xuanzong of Tang→ favor →An Lushan
    • An Lushan→ rebel →Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
    • Emperor Xuanzong of Tang→ ruler-subject →An Lushan
    • Emperor Xuanzong of Tang→ anger at rudeness →An Lushan
    Verified original text · 24
    1. 玄宗之侍安禄山，真如腹心

      favor · Romance of Sui and Tang, 083

    2. 遂降旨以安禄山为平卢、范阳、河东三镇节度使

      appoint · Romance of Sui and Tang, 083

    22 more verified quotations in the relationship records below.

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  3. Official history

    New Book of Tang

    64 profile notes
    32 relations38 verified quotations
    • Emperor Xuanzong of Tang→ favor →An Lushan
    • An Lushan→ rebel →Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
    • Emperor Xuanzong of Tang→ ruler-subject →An Lushan
    • Emperor Xuanzong of Tang→ anger at rudeness →An Lushan
    Verified original text · 38
    1. 安禄山反

      rebel · New Book of Tang, 刘锺崔二王传

    2. 安禄山之乱，宗庙为贼所焚

      rebellion · New Book of Tang, 礼乐志三

    36 more verified quotations in the relationship records below.

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History vs. fiction

In the official history, An Lushan is cunning, favored, and secretly plotting rebellion, while the novel exaggerates his palace antics into a tale of illicit romance in the harem.

  • novel inventionAn Lushan had an illicit affair with Consort Yang and scratched her breast

    The Old Book of Tang, Biographies of Empresses and Consorts, Part 1, only records that 'Lushan served the Consort as his mother, and at every banquet and gift, he received abundant rewards.' The official history does not record any illicit affair. However, the Sui and Tang Romance, Chapter 80, takes the liberty to write that An Lushan 'had an illicit affair with her, defiling the harem,' and fabricates episodes of Lushan scratching the Consort's breast during play, and the Consort creating a chest covering to hide it, which are purely embellishments by the novelist.

Relationship network

35 figures · 276 links
An LushanAn LushanEmperor Xuanzong of TangEmperor Xuanzong of TangEmperor Suzong of TangEmperor Suzong of TangGuo ZiyiGuo ZiyiLi JingLi JingXu ShijiXu ShijiLi LinfuLi LinfuYang GuozhongYang GuozhongYan ZhenqingYan ZhenqingLi GuangbiLi GuangbiShi SimingShi SimingPugu Huai'enGeshu HanZhang JiulingTian ChengsiFang GuanAn QingxuLi BaochenGao XianzhiLi ZhongchenZhang XunWang SiliWang ZhongsiZhang ShouguiLi BaiYang GuifeiDiwu QiChen XilieGao YingCui GuangyuanYan GaoqingZhang JiLu JiongJi WenLinghu Zhang
historyliteraturedual
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Sources: New Book of Tang, 三王鲁辛冯三李曲二卢传; Old Book of Tang, 仆固怀恩梁崇义李怀光传; Romance of Sui and Tang, 080; New Book of Tang, 三郑高权崔传; Old Book of Tang, 代宗本纪; Romance of Sui and Tang, 081; New Book of Tang, 二郭两王张牛传; Old Book of Tang, 刘幽求锺绍京郭元振张说传

This page was extracted from classical texts with AI assistance and revised; errors remain possible. Spotted a mistake? Tell us →

Compiled with AI assistance from public-domain texts; for cultural reference. Mythological accounts vary — corrections welcome.