Zhan Qian 棧潛

Zhan Qian's biography is appended after that of Gaotang Long in Records of Wei 25. Zhan Qian, a man of Rencheng, served as magistrate of several counties in the time of Cao Cao and once supervised the defence of Ye. Records, Wei 25 §110–111

At that time Cao Pi, then crown prince, was fond of hunting, going out in the morning and returning at night. Zhan Qian remonstrated, saying that 'kings and dukes set up defences to secure their states, and the guards of the capital are there to guard against the unforeseen', and citing the line from the 'Daya' (Greater Odes), 'The heir of the clan is the city wall; let not the wall be ruined.' He said, 'If you indulge in hunting, going out at dawn and returning at dusk, and for the pleasure of one day's pursuit of game forget the opening for boundless disaster, then I, in my foolishness, am privately perplexed.' The crown prince was displeased, but thereafter his outings became somewhat fewer. Records, Wei 25 §111–112

In the 3rd year of Huangchu (222), when Cao Pi wished to make Honoured Consort Guo empress, the Gentleman of the Household Zhan Qian submitted a memorial. He said that the emperors and kings of old had not only outer helpers but also inner aid, and that order and disorder arose from this; Lady Xiling and Nüying and Ehuang were worthy and wise and left their names behind, while Jie fled to Nanchao because of Moxi, and Zhou pleased Daji with the punishment of the roasting pillar. Therefore, he said, sage and wise rulers were careful in establishing their principal consorts, always choosing a worthy and virtuous woman from an old family of hereditary standing to preside over the six palaces. Records, Wei 5 §33–34Records, Wei 25 §112

Zhan Qian went on to say that the Spring and Autumn Annals records the statement that there is no rite for making a concubine the principal wife, and that Duke Huan of Qi, too, when swearing the covenant at Kuiqiu, said, 'Do not make a concubine your wife.' He then said, 'Now the favourite of the inner palace always rides next to the imperial carriage. If, out of affection, she is raised to empress and a lowly person is suddenly ennobled, I fear that in later generations those below will slight those above and those above will decline, that irregular things will be opened up, and that disorder will arise from above.' Cao Pi did not follow this and in the end made Honoured Consort Guo empress. Zhan Qian's biography notes that the words of this memorial are in the Biographies of Empresses and Consorts. Records, Wei 5 §34–35Records, Wei 25 §112

In the time of Emperor Ming, Cao Rui, when many labour levies were raised at once and the imperial kin were estranged and excluded, Zhan Qian submitted another memorial. He said that Heaven gave birth to the multitudes and set up rulers for them in order to shelter all living things and nurture the myriad people, and so the four seas were demarcated not for the sake of the Son of Heaven. He went on to say that Cao Cao had opened the imperial enterprise and Cao Pi had broadened the imperial foundations, but in his seven years on the throne had had no leisure for anything, so His Majesty ought to esteem gentleness and rest together with the people. Records, Wei 25 §112–114

He said that now the frontiers were not at peace, so that soldiers on campaign stood guard far away; there were affairs beyond the seas, so that banners were hung ten thousand li away; and the people abandoned their livelihoods to transport provisions by water and land, at a cost of a thousand pieces of gold a day. Palaces and official buildings were being raised on a grand scale, with works numbering in the tens of thousands; mountains were cut down to obtain the pines of Mount Culai, and strange rocks and wufu stones were floated down the Yellow River and the Huai; and the land around the capital was being made into parks for raising beasts, harming agriculture. He said that the splendour of the palaces rivalled the Epang Palace and the labour levies were a hundred times those of Ganxi, so he feared that the people's strength would be exhausted and they could no longer bear their orders, and he cited how the Qin was overturned in its second generation. Records, Wei 25 §114–115

Zhan Qian also said that when sage kings ruled the world they employed the meritorious and showed affection to their kin, so that they had helpers both within and without; in former times, when King Cheng of Zhou was young, the Duke of Zhou, the Duke of Lü, the Duke of Shao and the Duke of Bi were all at his side, but now there were no overseers like the Marquis of Wey or Kangshu. He then said that the Eastern Palace had not yet been established and the realm had no heir, and he hoped that His Majesty would turn his mind to the passes and frontier defences so as to preserve the state forever without end. Records, Wei 25 §116–117

Later Zhan Qian was made Commandant (zhongwei) of the Principality of Yan but declined on the pretext of illness, and died. Chen Shou's main text does not record the years of his birth and death. Records, Wei 25 §118

In his assessment of the Biographies of Empresses and Consorts, Chen Shou said that none of the families of Wei's empresses and consorts had seized and divided up the government of the court as in the declining Han, and that looking back on the arguments of Chen Qun and the discussion of Zhan Qian, they were sufficient to serve as a rule for a hundred kings and to hand down a model to later generations. The assessment of volume 25 discusses only Xin Pi, Yang Fu and Gaotang Long, and does not mention Zhan Qian. Records, Wei 5 §53Records, Wei 25 §120