Chunyu Tan was a man of Qi, in Shandong. He was a clerk of Yuan Xian, Prince of Ruyang, at the time when the prince governed Qinzhou. In the Tianping years, between 534 and 537, the prince sent him as an envoy to the Rouran khan Anagui. The khan kept him and trusted him.[1]
Anagui had been to Luoyang. He admired the Chinese state and created offices in imitation of a Chinese ruler, among them palace attendants and gentlemen of the yellow gate. He made Chunyu Tan director of the palace library and a gentleman of the yellow gate. Tan was in charge of the khan’s writing.[1] He taught the khan to be less deferential. As a result, Anagui now addressed the Chinese courts as an equal in every letter of state.[1]
The Zizhi Tongjian adds that the khan grew more arrogant still after the division of the Wei. The chronicle also says that he raided the frontier again and again.[2]
References
Sources
- Bei Shi (History of the Northern Dynasties), juan 98 (after Wei Shu, Zhou Shu and Sui Shu)
- Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 158 (after Wei Shu, Zhou Shu, Sui Shu and Bei Shi)
What links here3
- Persons
- Anagui · Zhonghang Yue
- Battles & Events
- Rise of Anagui Khan
Cite this article
Yavuz, Emre-E. “Chunyu Tan.” Turkic Atlas, revised 18 October 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/persons/chunyu-tan/
Last revised: 18 October 2026
