The history of Yan began in the Western Zhou in the early first millennium BC. After the authority of the Zhou king declined during the Spring and Autumn period in the 8th century BC, Yan survived and became one of the strongest states in China.

Under the Han dynasty (206 bce –220 ce), it was the seat of a feudal principality. In the 5th and 6th centuries it was the seat of a commandery (district controlled by a commander) called Guangling. During this early period, Yangzhou was the traditional name for southeastern China—one of the nine traditional divisions of China.

Yan Zhou has been an activist, critic and historian of Chinese contemporary art for three decades, having taught art theory and art history at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China in the 1980s and afterward, at Kenyon College, Ohio, USA, with guest teaching stints at Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, in addition to lectures given in more than thirty art schools, colleges, universities and museums in China and USA.