Jia Yi (; c. 200169 BCE) was a Chinese essayist, poet and politician of the Western Han dynasty, best known as one of the earliest known writers of fu rhapsody and for his essay "Disquisition Finding Fault with Qin" (Guò Qín Lùn ), which criticises the Qin dynasty and describes Jia's opinions on the reasons for its collapse. In particular, he is famous for his two fu, On the Owl () and his Lament for Qu Yuan (). He is also the author of the treatise Xinshu (), containing political and educational insights. Life 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 he became 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 promoted him 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 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