Nguyễn An

{{short description|Eunuch of the Ming dynasty, China}}

{{Chinese

|pic=

|piccap=

|qn=Nguyễn An

|chuhan={{linktext|阮|安}}

|c=阮安

|p=Ruǎn Ān

|w=Juan An

}}

Nguyễn An (Chinese 阮安; 1381 - 1453), known in Chinese as Ruan An (pinyin){{cite book|title=China and Vietnam: The Politics of Asymmetry|last=Womack|first=Brantly|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|isbn=0-521-85320-6|page=182}} or Juan An{{cite book|title=The Cambridge History of China |volume=7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644 (part 1)|isbn=0-521-24332-7|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1998|pages=240–241|author1=Frederick W. Mote |author2=Denis Twitchett |author3=John K. Fairbank }} (Wade-Giles), was a Ming dynasty architect and hydraulics specialist between the first and fifth decades of the 15th century. According to some sources, he was a key architect in designing, planning and constructing of the Forbidden City during the Ming dynasty. Born in Vietnam, he was taken as tribute to China and later became a eunuch and architect in service to the Chinese emperors. He, along with other architects, such as master designers and planners Cai Xin (蔡信), Kuai Xiang (蒯祥), Chen Gui (陳珪), and Wu Zhong (吳中), was a builder{{cite book|title=Chinese Spatial Strategies: Imperial Beijing, 1420-1911|last=Zhu|first=Jianfei|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=0-415-31883-1|page=28}} of the Forbidden City in Beijing.{{cite web|url=http://www.pacificrim.usfca.edu/research/perspectives/mallas.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100627021008/http://www.pacificrim.usfca.edu/research/perspectives/mallas.pdf|archivedate=2010-06-27 |title=Vatican City and the Forbidden City; St. Peter's Square and Tiananmen Square: A Comparative Analysis. Page 5|publisher=Asia-Pacific: Perspectives and the University of San Francisco}}

Under the reign of the Zhengtong Emperor, Nguyen An also had a role in the reconstruction of the wall of Beijing.{{cite book|title=Chinese Spatial Strategies: Imperial Beijing, 1420-1911|first=Jianfei|last=Zhu|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=0-415-31883-1|page=28}} He was also a hydraulics specialist, and was involved in at least three hydraulic projects and had a flawless record.{{cite book|title=The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty|last=Tsai|first=Shih-shan Henry|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=0-7914-2687-4|year=1996|pages=202}} He died in 1453.