An Lushan

Chinese general under the Tang dynasty in China (618–907), of Turkish origin. He overthrew the crown, and established the short-lived Yan dynasty (755–7). He was patronized by Yang Guifei, mistress to Emperor Xuanzong (ruled 712–55), who adopted him as her son. Controlling 160 000 troops as commandant of three NE regions, he revolted in 755, capturing Luoyang and Changan (Xian). The emperor fled and Yang was executed. An Lushan made himself emperor on Xuanzong's abdication (755), but was murdered by his own son (757).

An Lushan (Traditional Chinese: 安祿山, Simplified Chinese: 安禄山, pinyin: Ān Lùshān) (703 - 757) was a military leader of Sogdian-Turkish origin during the Tang Dynasty in China who fought during the Tang Frontier Wars between 741 to 755 and started the An Lu-Shan Rebellion lasting from 755 to 763. From his name, the first part is the family name, and the second part is the personal name. "An" indicates that he was from the city of Bukhara in Sogdiana and "Rokhan" in the Sogdian language means light (related to the female name "Roxana", borne by the Sogdian lady who married Alexander the Great). He escaped from the city and joined the Tang army as a mercenary. By distinguishing himself in the border wars of the northwestern frontier, particularly the Khitan invasion of 751-752, Rokhan rose through the ranks to become the military governor of Fanyang Province (Hopeh Hebei) as (jiedushi) of Manchuria.

Stung by repeated accusations of plotting treachery, he launched the An Lushan Rebellion in 755, which marked the watershed of Tang power. Rokhan led an army of about 150,000 soldiers from Peking (Beijing) and captured the eastern capital city of Loyang (Luoyang) in the fall of that year. Gross military incompetence by the Chief Minister Yang Guozhong (Lady Yang's cousin and An's accuser) caused the capture of the main Tang capital of Chang'an (Sian/Xi'an) in 756, and Rokhan proclaimed himself emperor. However, he was forced to abandon the city to Uyghur mercenaries under Tang service before he could establish a new dynasty. (It has been suggested that this was a symptom of acute diabetes, due to his obesity.) Although his rebellion was eventually crushed, it forced the Tang dynasty to became overdependent on the goodwill of provincial governors and military commanders, thus irretrievably eroding the Tang's central authority.