Hello all;

Several years ago, I remember reading about a minister (I think he was a prime minister, but I could be wrong) named Yan Zi, who was noted to be exceptionally short. Wikipedia has nothing on the (prime?) minister I was looking for, Google doesn't have anything on the topic, and CHF's search engine does not perform a search if no word is 4 characters or more, so I thought that I might get some answers here.

First of all, he was noted for being very short. I remember reading that during a visit to another kingdom (so I would assume this Yan Zi probably lived during an era of civil war), someone from the other kingdom thought that it would be an entertaining idea to create a small gate for his carriage to pass through (as this Yan Zi was small, he had a small carriage). However, instead of passing through the small gate, he demanded that he be let through the gate that which everyone else used. I also remember another story of Yan Zi which goes as such: One day, a young woman offers herself to Yan Zi as a concubine. As Yan Zi was old, and he already had a wife, he thought the circumstances surrounding it was strange, so he went to question the young woman. As it turns out, some people (government officials, I believe?) were making life hard for this young woman's family, so the woman decided to offer herself as a concubine to get Yan Zi to do something about it. After hearing this, Yan Zi decided to take action against these people (without taking the concubine, of course).

Hopefully these anecdotes that I remember would shed some light as to who this person is. Unfortunately, as I read this book several years ago, and the book was the property of the local library, I don't have the Hanzi for 'Yan Zi'. Also, the romanization for 'Yan Zi' could also be incorrect, as another book made by the same people romanized Yuan Shao's (of Three Kingdoms fame) name as 'Yun Sho' on one occasion. So, does anyone know if this character was a historical figure, or even fictional? Or was this 'Yan Zi' merely a figment of my imagination (which I sure hope not, as I could not possibly come up with those stories on my own)? Any information is appreciated.

~QF

If you can read Chinese, try the Chinese wiki http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...p;variant=zh-tw

His name was 晏嬰 / 晏婴 / Yàn Yīng, and 晏子 / 晏子 / Yàn Zi was another name used to refer to him.
His accounts can be found in Shiji scroll 62.

He was a minister in the State of Qí (齊國/齐国).

The state which tried to ridicule him by opening only a small side gate during his diplomatic trip was the State of Chu (楚).

Wow, I never expected a reply so fast!

Although my skill in reading Chinese is not very good (the book I read was a translated book), at least I know that Yan Zi did indeed, exist.

Much thanks for the information, snowybeagle.

the name of Yan Zi(晏子)is Yan Ying，Zi is a noble title,and great philosophers are always knowned as ×× Zi,just like Kong Zi(Confucius).
the first story you refered to is very famous,because everyone would learn it in primary school.

there is many storys about him,he's comtemporary of Confucius.one time,the king of Qi wanna promote Confucius to the prime misinter,it is him who persuade the king to abandon this idea.