Writers › Writer / Poet
Duan Anjie
Late Tang writer, son of Duan Chengshi, whose Yuefu zalu records Tang music sections, song and dance, players and instruments and sorts dances into vigorous and gentle types.
Mural of the cultural record “Tang Court Music and Dance”, which this person is tied to.
Duan Anjie, of Linzi, was the grandson of the chief minister Duan Wenchang, the son of Duan Chengshi and the son-in-law of Wen Tingyun; under Emperor Zhaozong he rose to Court Gentleman for Consultation and acting Director of Studies at the Imperial Academy. Finding the earlier Jiaofang ji incomplete, he compiled the Yuefu zalu (Miscellaneous Records of the Music Bureau), finished around 894, covering the nine music sections from the ritual-music section on, singers and dancers, comic players, instruments and the origins of tunes, mostly the popular music of the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras on. Its section on dancers divides dances into vigorous ones such as Zhezhi, Jianqi, Huxuan and Huteng and gentle ones such as Liangzhou, Lüyao, Suhexiang and Ganzhou, making it a basic source for Tang music and dance.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; compiled the Yuefu zalu by c. 894 CE