An Lushan (Traditional Chinese: 安祿山; Simplified Chinese: 安禄山; pinyin: Ān Lùshān) (703 - 757) was a military leader of Turkic-Sogd
An Lushan (Traditional Chinese: 安祿山; Simplified Chinese: 安禄山; pinyin: Ān Lùshān) (703 - 757) was a military leader of Turkic-Sogdian origin during the Tang Dynasty in China. He rose to prominence by fighting during the Tang Frontier Wars between 741 and 755. He was made the military governor of Fanyang Province (Hebei), (jiedushi) of Manchuria, and during frequent visits to the capital, became a personal favorite of Emperor Xuanzong and his beloved Consort, Yang Guifei. An Lushan was extremely fat, and often played the jester to win favor. Through Yang’s patronage, An Lushan rose to prominence and was eventually made governor of three major frontier provinces in the northeast, giving him control of the eastern half of China’s frontier, and putting him in control of 40 percent of the Tang forces.
In 755, after the High Chancellor Li Linfu died, An Lushan came into conflict with Li's replacement, Yang Guozhong, who was Yang Guifei’s cousin. He captured the eastern capital city of Loyang (Luoyang), declared himself Emperor of the new Great Yan dynasty (大燕皇帝), and launched the An Shi Rebellion (Simplified Chinese: 安史之乱; Traditional Chinese: 安史之亂; pinyin: Ān Shǐ Zhī Luàn). In 756, he took the capital of Chang’an and forced the Emperor to flee. In 757, An Lushan was murdered by his own son. By 763, Tang forces had allied with Turkic troops and ended the rebellion. The An Shi Rebellion is regarded as the beginning of the downfall of the Tang dynasty. It is estimated to have caused the death of thirty-six million people, due to battle, oppression and famine.
An Lushan was born An Rokhan in 703 in northern Manchuria, where his father was a Sogdian sartapo (merchant) employed by the Turkic Khanate to administer their domains. His mother was a Turkic Shaman, and belonged to the nobility of a Turkish clan. The name “An Lushan” is the Sinicized version of the name An Rokhan. The family name An implied that he was from the city of Bukhara in Sogdiana, and Rokhan in the Sogdian language meant "light." An Rokhan grew up in a town in Ürümqi, and was working as a sartapo in the market when he was accused of sheep theft and sentenced to death. He escaped from the city and joined the Tang army as a mercenary. He distinguished himself in the border wars of the northwestern frontier, particularly the Khitan invasion of 751-752, and rose through the ranks to become a general by the age of 33.
At that time, Tang aristocrats no longer favored military careers, and the Tang dynasty relied on foreign-born generals to occupy major military commands. In 744, An Rokhan (An Lushan) was made the military governor of Fanyang Province (Hebei), (jiedushi) of Manchuria, by the High Chancellor Li lin-fu, who favored foreign generals because he feared that Chinese generals might usurp his authority at court. He paid frequent visits to the capital and became a personal favorite of Emperor Xuanzong a