Writers › Writer / Poet

Ouyang Jian

Western Jin writer and philosopher from Nanpi in Bohai, courtesy name Jianshi, one of the Twenty-Four Friends of Golden Valley, author of the Yan jin yi lun, killed in 300.

Also known as Jianshi

Ouyang Jian, courtesy name Jianshi, was from Nanpi in Bohai, a maternal grandson of Shi Bao and nephew of Shi Chong. He served as secretariat gentleman and Grand Administrator of Fengyi and was one of the Twenty-Four Friends of Golden Valley. He was killed by Sima Lun, Prince of Zhao, in the War of the Eight Princes, and wrote a farewell poem before his death. His Yan jin yi lun argued that words can fully express meaning, against the Neo-Daoist view that they cannot, and is preserved in Yiwen leiju 19. He was born around the 260s and died in 300.

Life and times

  1. UnknownBornThree KingdomsJin
  2. 300 CEDied