Emperor Wen of Han
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.