Ministers › Statesman / Official
Yan Shifan
Son of the Ming senior grand secretary Yan Song who ran his father's cabinet business for bribes and was beheaded in 1565 on a charge of treason
In the courtyard of a district government hall, a line of petitioners waits before a raised bench with a long table and document boxes; a blue umbrella stands beside it, a large drum stands at the gate where a few people wait, and a lake with sailboats lies beyond.
Also known as Hao Donglou
- Roles
- Statesman / Official
Yan Shifan, literary name Donglou, was the son of the senior grand secretary Yan Song of Fenyi in Jiangxi; the History of Ming (Mingshi) describes him as thick-necked, fat and blind in one eye. Entering office through his father's privilege, he rose from the Seals Office to vice minister of works, and as Yan Song aged it was Shifan who drafted the cabinet's rescripts, selling appointments and taking bribes on a large scale. When the censor Zou Yinglong impeached them in 1562, Yan Song was sent home and Shifan was banished to Leizhou, but he slipped back to Fenyi before reaching it and built himself a mansion. After a second impeachment by Lin Run, Xu Jie recast the charges as collusion with Japanese pirates and plotting rebellion, and in 1565 Yan Shifan was beheaded with Luo Longwen and the family's property confiscated. The Mingshi places his life within his father's entry in the chapter on treacherous ministers.
Life and times
Dates 1513 CE–1565 CE