Yan An 嚴安, actual name Zhuang An 莊安 (his surname was changed in order to avoid the personal name of Emperor Ming 漢明帝, r. 57-75 CE, Liu Zhuang 劉莊), was an official of the mid-Former Han period 前漢 (206 BCE-8 CE). He came from Linzi 臨淄 (modern Linzi, Shandong) and was a scribe of the Counsellor-in-chief (chengxiang 丞相) of Emperor Wu 漢武帝 (r. 141-87 BCE). He once dared submitting a memorial to the throne that the currently planned expedition against the steppe federation of the Xiongnu 匈奴 would not be profitable, and Emperor Wu invited him to a court audience. Yan An was promoted to gentleman of the interior (langzhong 郎中) and later to commandant of cavarly (jima ling 騎馬令). Yan An is credited with the authorship of a book Yan An 嚴安, which is nothing else than the text of his memorial. It is included in the collection Yuhanshanfang jiyi shu 玉函山房輯佚書 by the Qing period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Ma Guohan 馬國翰. Source: Cang Xiuliang 倉修良 (1996). Hanshu cidian 漢書辭典, p. 1104. Jinan: Shandong jiaoyu chubanshe.