Jian'an (Eastern Han)

Jian'an
Chinese	建安
Literal meaning	"establishing peace" "establishing peacefulness"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jiàn'ān Wade–Giles Chien-an

Jian'an (February 196 – March 220) was the fifth era name of Emperor Xian of China's Eastern Han dynasty. It was used for a total of 25 years. Jian'an was the era name established by Emperor Xian when he was in exile during the rebellion of Li Jue and Guo Si. In 196, Cao Cao welcomed Emperor Xian in Xu County (present-day Jian'an District, Xuchang, Henan Province) and began to control the government, "holding the emperor to order the princes" (挾天子以令諸侯), so the Jian'an period can also be said to be the period when Cao Cao was in power. During this period, Cao Cao had basically unified the north, and the situation of the Three Kingdoms was also established during this period.

After Cao Cao's death in March 220 (Jian'an 25, 3rd month), the era was changed to Yankang 1 (延康元年, "the first year of Yankang").

Comparison table

Note that Chinese eras run from Chinese New Year to Chinese New Year using the Chinese lunisolar calendar and do not directly correspond to Gregorian dates.

Jian'an	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
AD	196	197	198	199	200	201	202	203	204	205
Jian'an	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
AD	206	207	208	209	210	211	212	213	214	215
Jian'an	21	22	23	24	25
AD	216	217	218	219	220

Legacy

The Jian'an era is remembered in the names of the Seven Scholars of Jian'an and Jian'an poetry, as well as the Jian'an District of Xuchang in Henan, China.

See also

• List of Chinese era names

Further reading

• Li Chongzhi (李崇智) (December 2004). Zhongguo lidai nianhao kao (中國歷代年號考). Beijing (北京): Zhonghua Book Company (中華書局). ISBN 7101025129.