Jia Yi's biography is contained in Volume 84 of the
Records of the Grand Historian. Jia Yi was born about 200 BCE in
Luoyang, though some sources suggest his birth may have been a year earlier in about 201 BCE. As a youth, Jia became well known in his home county for his literary skills and ability to recite the
Chinese Classics. His precociousness caught the attention of "Venerable Wu" (
Wu gong ), the local governor and a prominent
Legalist scholar who had been a student of the
Qin dynasty official
Li Si. Wu brought Jia onto his staff, and when Wu was romoted Commandant of Justice in 179 BCE, he recommended Jia to
Emperor Wen of Han as a scholar of the Classics. Emperor Wen made Jia a "professor" (
bóshì ), and within one year had him promoted to Grand Master of the Palace (
tàizhōng dàfū ), a relatively high-ranking position at the imperial court. Upon assuming his new position, Jia began submitting proposals for institutional reformsincluding a proposal to require vassal lords to actually reside in their fiefs and not at the capital. He advised Wen to teach his heir to use what may very well be
Shen Buhai's administrative method, so as to be able to "supervise the functions of the many officials and understand the usages of government." He was frequently opposed by a group of older officials who had been early supporters of
Liu Bang, the founder of the Han dynasty, and who continued to hold important positions under Emperor Wen. This old-guard faction, probably feeling that Jia was a threat to their own positions, protested when Emperor Wen was considering promoting Jia to a ministerial post, saying that Jia was "young and just beginning his studies, yet he concentrates all his desires on arrogating authority to himself, and has brought chaos and confusion to everything." The emperor, bowing to the faction's pressure, gradually stopped seeking Jia's advice, and in 176 BCE exiled Jia to the southern
Changsha Kingdom (roughly corresponding to modern
Hunan Province) to serve as Grand Tutor to its young king Wu Chan (; r. 178157 BCE). Emperor Wen ended Jia's exile around 172 BCE, summoning him back to the imperial capital at
Chang'an, ostensibly as a consultant in
Daoist mysticism. The emperor appointed him to the position of Grand Tutor (
tàifù ) to
Liu Yi, Emperor Wen's youngest and favorite son, who was said to have been a good student and to have enjoyed reading. Liu Yi died in 169 BCE due to injuries he suffered in a fall from a horse. Jia blamed himself for the accident and died, grief-stricken, about one year later. == Works ==