Zhang Shuo

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Zhang Shuo came from an official family with a strong cultural tradition. His ancestry was traced to Zhang Hao, Minister of Works under the Eastern Han, and Zhang Hua, Minister of Works under the Western Jin. Zhang Hua's eleventh-generation descendant Zhang Ke was Zhang Shuo's grandfather. Zhang Ke and Lady Dong had a son Zhang Zhi, Zhang Shuo's father. Zhang's mother Lady Feng was titled Lady of Changle County. Zhang had elder brothers Zhang Guang and Zhang Gui, an elder sister Zhang Dexing who married Li Boyu, another younger sister titled Lady of Fanyang County who married Yin Xingxian, Vice Director of the Directorate of Education, and a youngest sister who died young. This family background gave him a strong education from childhood and helped prepare his later literary and political career.

In 689, the first year of Yongchang, the court held a special examination for worthy and upright men. Zhang's policy response was judged the best in the realm. Wu Zetian, however, reportedly objected that there had been no first-class ranking in recent times and reduced him to the second grade. Even so, Zhang was appointed proofreader in the Crown Prince's Secretariat and later promoted to Left Reminder, already showing notable literary talent and political awareness.

Middle Career: Compilation and Exile

In 699 Wu Zetian ordered her favorite Zhang Changzong to supervise compilation of Sanjiao Zhuying and recruited many leading writers of the day, including Zhang Shuo, Li Jiao, Xu Jian, Song Zhiwen, Cui Shi, and twenty-six others. Zhang Changzong himself largely participated through literary gatherings and discussion; the main editorial work was done by Zhang Shuo and Xu Jian. Using Wensi Boyao as a foundation, they added sections on surnames and kinship and brought the compilation into order. In 701 the 1,300-volume work was completed. Zhang was promoted to Right Historian and inner court attendant and given duties over official merit evaluation and examinations.

In 703 Zhang became involved in a major political crisis. Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, angered by repeated criticism from Grand Councilor Wei Yuanzhong, accused Wei of saying that the empress dowager was old and that it would be better to seize the crown prince for long-term security, alleging treason. Zhang Changzong privately pressured and enticed Zhang Shuo, then serving as Secretariat Drafter, to give false testimony. Zhang outwardly agreed, but before entering the palace he was strongly admonished by Song Jing, Zhang Tinggui, Liu Zhiji, and others. Song Jing warned that moral reputation was of the highest importance and that one must not side with evil to frame the upright merely to avoid danger. Zhang ultimately told Wu Zetian directly that Zhang Changzong had tried to force him to commit perjury. Zhang Changzong then accused him of being Wei Yuanzhong's accomplice. Zhang argued that Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou were models of loyal ministers and asked what crime there was if Wei sought to emulate them. Wu Zetian denounced Zhang as a “fickle petty man,” imprisoned him with Wei, and, despite widespread calls for leniency, demoted Wei and exiled Zhang to Qin Prefecture in Lingnan for disobeying imperial wishes.

In 705 the Zhang brothers were killed in the Shenlong Coup, Wu Zetian was forced to retire, and Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian returned to the throne. Zhang was recalled from Lingnan and appointed bureau director in the Ministry of War, later rising to Vice Minister of Works. In 708, after his mother died, he left office for mourning. At a time when many officials welcomed recall before the mourning term was complete, Zhang repeatedly petitioned to remain in mourning and was praised by discerning contemporaries for adhering to ritual. After mourning ended he resumed service as Vice Minister of Works and was soon transferred to Vice Minister of War and made an academician of the Hongwen Institute.

The Ruizong Reign: Suppressing Rebellion and Entering the Chancellery

In 710 Emperor Ruizong Li Dan came to the throne. Zhang became Vice Director of the Secretariat and chief administrator of Yong Prefecture. That eighth lunar month Prince Qiao Li Chongfu rebelled at Luoyang and committed suicide after failure. The defender of the eastern capital had arrested several hundred suspected accomplices but could not resolve the case after months of interrogation. Ruizong sent Zhang to investigate. In a single night Zhang identified the principal conspirators Zhang Lingjun and Zheng Yin, established the charges, and released those wrongly detained. Ruizong praised him, saying that he had known Zhang would neither wrong the innocent nor let the guilty escape. Zhang and Chu Wuliang were then appointed readers to Crown Prince Li Longji and gained the prince's trust.

In 711 Zhang became Grand Councilor as Participant in Determining Government Matters and supervised compilation of the national history. Princess Taiping was then building alliances with court officials and interfering in government, hoping to remove the crown prince. She arranged for diviners to predict that armed emergency would enter the palace within five days. Ruizong ordered preparations. Zhang advised that the rumor was designed to separate ruler and heir and that if the crown prince were allowed to act as regent, fixing the political relationship, the schemers would lose courage and the rumors would cease. Ruizong accepted the proposal and that same day ordered Li Longji to assume regency. In the fourth lunar month Zhang became Vice Minister of War while retaining his position as Grand Councilor.

The Xuanzong Reign: Three Times Grand Councilor

In 712 Ruizong abdicated to Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong. Princess Taiping still held extensive influence and her conflict with Xuanzong intensified. Because Zhang refused to join her faction, he was removed as Grand Councilor and demoted to Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs and Defender of the Eastern Capital. He sent Xuanzong a sword through an envoy, symbolically urging decisive action against Princess Taiping. Xuanzong understood and approved the message.

In 713, after Xuanzong destroyed Princess Taiping's faction, Zhang was recalled as Secretariat Director, made Duke of Yan with two hundred tax households, and later redesignated Director of the Ziwei Department. However, Zhang had a hostile relationship with Yao Chong, then governor of Tong Prefecture. When Xuanzong planned to appoint Yao as Grand Councilor, Zhang encouraged Censor-in-chief Zhao Yanzhao to impeach Yao and had Jiang Jiao propose moving Yao to a frontier command. Xuanzong recognized the maneuver and appointed Yao Vice Minister of War and Grand Councilor. Zhang became fearful and privately visited Prince Qi Li Fan to profess loyalty; Yao reported the visit, and Zhang was demoted to governor of Xiang Prefecture and inspection commissioner for Hebei. He was later implicated in another matter and further demoted to governor of Yue Prefecture.

At Yue Prefecture Zhang rebuilt a major tower and named it the South Tower. In 716, when Su Ting became Grand Councilor, Zhang wrote Songs on Five Gentlemen and presented it to him on the death anniversary of Su's father Su Gui, an old associate of Zhang. Su Ting was moved and spoke to Xuanzong on Zhang's behalf. Zhang was transferred to chief secretary of Jing Province and later appointed General of the Right Yulin Guard and acting governor of You Prefecture.

In 719 Zhang became acting chief secretary of the Bing Prefecture area command and commander of Tianbing Army. In 721 unrest followed the killing of Turkic tribesmen by the Shuofang Military Commissioner. Zhang rode with only twenty mounted followers, carrying credentials, deep into the tribal encampments and stayed in the chief's own tent. His deputy Li Xian warned him not to trust the tribes. Zhang replied that his flesh was not mutton to be eaten and his blood not that of a wild horse to be stabbed, and that a gentleman should give his life when facing danger. His courage helped stabilize the frontier.

In 722 Zhang became the first Military Commissioner of Shuofang. He proposed recruiting strong men for the palace guard, suppressed the revolt of the surrendered Hu leader Kang Yuanzi, advocated reducing the army by more than two hundred thousand men, and returning them to farming. In 725 he served as commissioner for Xuanzong's feng and shan sacrifices at Mount Tai. He brought his son-in-law Zheng Yi along and promoted him four ranks, changing his green official robe to red. The entertainer Huang Fanchuo joked that this was “the power of Mount Tai,” a story later associated with “Mount Tai” as a term for a father-in-law.

In 726 Yuwen Rong, Li Linfu, and others impeached Zhang for taking bribes. Xuanzong ordered Grand Councilor Yuan Qianyao and others to investigate, and many accusations were found substantiated. Xuanzong sent Gao Lishi to see Zhang. Gao reported that Zhang sat on grass, ate from earthenware, and appeared unkempt and deeply fearful. Seeing that Xuanzong already felt sympathy, Gao emphasized Zhang's earlier services to the state and urged leniency. Xuanzong ultimately pardoned him.

In 730 Zhang ended his career as Left Grand Councilor and received the posthumous name Wenzhen after death. Two years later he was reburied in the family cemetery at Mount Wan'an near Luoyang.

Major Activities

Literary Contributions

Zhang Shuo was a leading figure in Tang literary life and held responsibility for court literature for some thirty years. He advocated vigor and moral substance in writing and excelled in both poetry and prose. Many major court compositions were drafted by him, earning him the title “great brush.” Famous lines include poems comparing the opening of a banana leaf with the opening of the heart and a heart dying like furnace ash while the face fades with courtyard trees. His works included Qian Bencao, which used money as a metaphor for medicine to diagnose social ills. The Tale of the Curly-Bearded Guest has also sometimes been attributed to him. The anthology Thousand Masters' Poems included his “Night Drinking at Youzhou.” A thirty-volume collection, Collected Works of Duke Zhang of Yan, circulated under his name.

Political Activities

Zhang served as Grand Councilor three times and was one of the important political figures associated with the Kaiyuan era of prosperity. He advocated reducing the standing army by more than two hundred thousand men and returning them to farming, thereby reducing fiscal burdens, while also proposing recruitment of strong men for palace defense. Under Ruizong he recommended making the crown prince regent, helping frustrate Princess Taiping's attempt to manipulate the succession. During the early Xuanzong reign he served as a major minister in the political order that developed into the Kaiyuan era.

Travels and Offices

Zhang's career took him across much of the empire. He campaigned against the Khitan, was exiled to Lingnan, and served at various times in Xiang, Yue, Jing, You, and Bing prefectures. He left poems, prose, or administrative works in many of these places. At Yue Prefecture he rebuilt the South Tower, which became a local landmark.

Relations with Contemporaries

Zhang worked with Li Jiao, Xu Jian, Song Zhiwen, Cui Shi, and others on Sanjiao Zhuying. He was compared with Su Ting as one of the “great brushes of Yan and Xu.” Song Jing, Zhang Tinggui, and Liu Zhiji advised him during the Wei Yuanzhong case. He had a hostile relationship with Yao Chong and the two engaged in political maneuvering against each other. He also had poor relations with Cui Shi; when Cui was ordered to commit suicide in the second year of Xiantian, contemporaries suspected Zhang had contributed to his downfall.

Personal Relations

Family

• Grandfather: Zhang Ke.
• Father: Zhang Zhi.
• Mother: Lady Feng.
• Elder brothers: Zhang Guang and Zhang Gui.
• Elder sister: Zhang Dexing, married Li Boyu.
• Younger sister: Lady of Fanyang County, married Yin Xingxian.
• Wife: Lady Yuan of Henan, descended from Emperor Zhaocheng of Northern Wei and a great-great-granddaughter of Yuan Zhou, Duke of Wuling under Sui.
• Sons: Zhang Jun, Zhang Pi, Zhang Mi, Zhang Meng, Zhang Wu, Zhang Ji, Zhang Dai, Zhang Shu, and others.
• Daughters: one Lady Zhang married Zheng Mi; another died young and was posthumously named Empress Gongshun and given a ghost marriage to Li Tan, Emperor Chengtian.

Friends and Associates

• Li Jiao, Xu Jian, Song Zhiwen, Cui Shi: co-compilers of Sanjiao Zhuying.
• Su Ting: literary peer, together known as the “great brushes of Yan and Xu.”
• Song Jing, Zhang Tinggui, Liu Zhiji: court colleagues who advised him during the Wei Yuanzhong affair.
• Chu Wuliang: fellow reader to the crown prince.

Rulers

• Wu Zetian: valued Zhang early but exiled him after the Wei Yuanzhong affair.
• Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, Li Xian: recalled Zhang to court.
• Emperor Ruizong of Tang, Li Dan: employed Zhang heavily and made him Grand Councilor.
• Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji: relied on Zhang as a prominent Kaiyuan-era minister and made him Duke of Yan.

Conflicts

• Wei Yuanzhong: Zhang's defense of him angered Wu Zetian.
• Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong: Zhang refused to give false testimony for them and became their enemy.
• Princess Taiping: Zhang refused to join her faction and lost his post as Grand Councilor.
• Yao Chong: political rival; the two maneuvered against one another.
• Yuwen Rong and Li Linfu: impeached Zhang for corruption.

Historical Assessment

Tang and Contemporary Views

• The Old Book of Tang says Zhang valued moral integrity and promises, wrote with force and precision, excelled especially in inscriptions and epitaphs, and drafted many of the court's major compositions.
• The New Book of Tang states that in literature he advocated vigor and depth of meaning and excelled in both poetry and prose.
• The contemporary Wang Lengran criticized him for seeking wealth and rank in old age and forgetting the frustrations of his earlier years.

Song and Yuan Periods

• The Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance records Zhang's conduct in the Wei Yuanzhong affair in detail and praises his refusal to frame a loyal official.
• Song writers often regarded Zhang as a “famous minister of Kaiyuan” and credited him with important contributions to Xuanzong's early prosperous reign.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Ming and Qing scholars often evaluated Zhang primarily as a writer, regarding his inscription and epitaph prose as highly accomplished and seeing him as an early precursor of the Classical Prose Movement.
• Writers such as Wang Shizhen praised the force and breadth of his prose and spoke of the distinctive style of Yan and Xu.

Modern Period

• Modern scholars often treat Zhang as representative of the political environment from late Wu Zetian through early Xuanzong, with the rises and falls of his career reflecting intense factional struggle.
• Literary historians regard him as a transitional figure between Early and High Tang literature whose writing contributed to the formation of the High Tang style.
• Scholars also emphasize his importance as a “great brush” in the development of Tang official prose and inscription literature.