MUZIChinese Matrix
Scholars › Historian
Tang county sheriff of Huayin who wrote the three-chapter Records of An Lushan, a source for both Tang histories on the An Lushan Rebellion.
In an archive hall, tall wooden shelves hold scrolls and bound books with small tags, and one person climbs a ladder with their back turned; a long table in front holds an unrolled river map, a bronze lamp and a copper jug, with a city wall seen through the window.
Also known as Yao Runeng, Sheriff of Huayin
Yao Runeng was a Tang writer whose life and home are unknown; the New Book of Tang bibliography and Chen Zhensun's catalogue give his office as sheriff of Huayin county. His Records of An Lushan, in three chapters, follows An Lushan from his birth in 703 through Emperor Xuanzong's favour to 753, then the outbreak of the rebellion in 754 and 755, and finally An's self-proclaimed reign, his murder and the careers of An Qingxu, Shi Siming and Shi Chaoyi down to 762. The An Lushan biographies in both official Tang histories draw heavily on it, making it a key source for the An Lushan Rebellion.
Tangmid-Tang; his Records of An Lushan ends in 762 and was written after that
Literature · Prose4The Deeds of An Lushan is headed as written by Yao Runeng of Tang; his life is not known in detail. Its first volume begins in the third year of Chang'an (703) and runs to the twelfth year of Tianbao, and the last volume reaches the first year of Baoying (762), telling the story of An Lushan and the rebellion.