adversity, emperor wu, friendship, ren an, sima qian

Friends That Stand by You in Adversity Are Worth Knowing

An old Chinese proverb says: “Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.” This held true for Sima Qian and his friend Ren An. Sima Qian (145-86 B.C.) served as the governor of Yizhou (in modern Sichuan) after inheriting his father Sima Tan’s official position as the royal historian. He was working on ...

Helen London

Historian Sima Qian.