Youth and Officialdom
Sang Hongyang was born in Luoyang, one of the Han Dynasty's major commercial centres, to a family of merchants. In youth he was known for his mathematical prowess, and when Emperor Wu ascended to the throne in 141 BC Sang came to his notice and was eventually invited to become an Attendant (侍中) - one of the means by which the Emperor kept talent in the palace, and by which many important officials began their careers. Sang would remain an Attendant for 26 years.
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Famous quotes containing the word youth:
“His youth was distinguished by all the tumult and storm of pleasures, in which he licentiously triumphed, disdaining all decorum. His fine imagination was often heated and exhausted with his body in celebrating and deifying the prostitute of the night, and his convivial joys were pushed to all the extravagancy of frantic bacchanals.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)