Huan Tan

Who was Huan Tan?

Huan Tan 桓譚 was a Chinese philosopher of the Han Dynasty and short-lived interregnum of the Xin Dynasty. Huan's mode of philosophical thought belonged to an Old Text realist tradition supported by other contemporaries such as the naturalist and mechanistic philosopher Wang Chong, the latter who Rafe de Crespigny states was probably heavily influenced by Huan Tan. Huan was a close associate of the court astronomer and mathematician Liu Xin as well as the author and poet Yang Xiong, and worked as an official under the administrations of Emperor Ai of Han, Wang Mang, Emperor Gengshi of Han, and Emperor Guangwu of Han.

In addition to his many rhapsodies, essays, and memorials, Huan's major work was the Xinlun, "New Discussions", which was admired by Emperor Guangwu, despite Huan Tan's besmirched reputation for having closely associated himself with the regime of the usurper Wang Mang. His Xinlun is also the earliest text to describe the trip hammer device powered by hydraulics in order to pound and decorticate grain.

Huan Tan is reported by Yu Yingshi to uphold self-contradictory views on immortality. On one hand, he is quoted to say that "the way of immortals" is a fabrication of the lovers for the strange; on the other, however, he was reported to admit the practice as genuine and efficient. Possible explanation lies in the fact that Huanzi xinlun 桓子新論 is a later compilation which might have confused his own statements with the quotations of his opponents.