Yuan Kan 袁侃

Yuan Kan's father Yuan Huan, courtesy name Yaoqing, was a man of Fule County in Chen Commandery, and his father Yuan Pang had been Minister over the Masses of the Han. When the state of Wei was first established, Yuan Huan became Prefect of the Palace Gentlemen and acted in the post of Imperial Counselor, and he died after a few years in office. Records, Wei 11 §2 · 10–11

At the end of the biography of Yuan Huan, Chen Shou wrote that Yuan Huan's son Yuan Kan was also pure, refined, calm and simple, with his father's manner, and served in turn as a commandery Administrator and as a Master of Writing. Records, Wei 11 §12

Yuan Huan's younger cousin Yuan Ba became Minister of Agriculture at the beginning of Wei and was well known in his time together with He Kui of the same commandery. Yuan Ba's son Yuan Liang and He Kui's son He Zeng, together with Yuan Kan, in turn won equal renown and were good friends with one another. Yuan Liang detested He Yan, Deng Yang and others and wrote essays criticizing them, and rose to Intendant of Henan and Master of Writing. Records, Wei 11 §13

According to the biography of Du Shu, Du Shu, who had repeatedly been sent out to provincial posts because he could not get along with the men of his time at court, became Inspector of You Province once more, with the additional title General Who Establishes Might, and as Commissioner Bearing Credentials served as Colonel Protector of the Wuhuan. At that time Cheng Xi, General Who Conquers the North, was stationed at Ji County, and the Master of Writing Yuan Kan and others warned Du Shu: Cheng Xi was the man who had brought down Tian Yu in Qing Province in the former emperor's time, and now that Du Shu would hold the Credentials together with him and be stationed in the same city, he should be well on his guard. Records, Wei 16 §72

Du Shu paid no heed to these words. Less than a year after taking up his post, he was impeached by Cheng Xi because the province had beheaded a young man who had come with the son of a Xianbei chieftain and had not submitted a memorial to report it. Du Shu was handed over to the Minister of Justice and sentenced to death, but because his father Du Ji had drowned while diligently doing his duty, he was spared death, made a commoner and banished to Zhangwu Commandery. That year was the 1st year of Jiaping (249). Records, Wei 16 §73

According to the biography of Wang Ji, when Sima Jingwang (Sima Shi) newly took charge of the government, Wang Ji wrote to admonish him, saying that Xu Yun, Fu Gu, Yuan Kan and Cui Zan were all upright men of their age, of straightforward character and with no inclination to drift with the tide, and were men with whom he could share the affairs of government. Sima Shi accepted his words. Records, Wei 27 §59

Chen Shou's main text does not record Yuan Kan's courtesy name or the years of his birth and death. The assessment of Records of Wei 11 speaks only of Yuan Huan, Bing Yuan, Zhang Fan and others, and does not mention Yuan Kan. Records, Wei 11 §12 · 111