Sui and Tang · Scholar and Official

Zhang Zhuo 張鷟

Attested AD 679 - AD 713

Passages: 8
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Zhang Zhuo was a scholar and Official.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Wencheng	文成	Wencheng
Nickname	Bronze Cash Scholar	青錢學士

Life and dates

Death

ended career / died in office as Gate Office vice director
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 161, passage 24

Attested activity

AD 690 to AD 705 武後時
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 161, passage 20
AD 679 調露初
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 161, passage 9
AD 695 證聖中
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 161, passage 15
AD 713 開元初
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 161, passage 17

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Descendant of Grandfather of Zhang Zhuo (張鷟大父)
grandfather 大父 · 2 generations
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 161, passage 5
Ancestor of Zhang Jian (張薦)
grandfather 祖 · paternal line · 2 generations
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 161, passage 3
Parent of Father of Zhang Jian (張薦父)
father 父
Strongly inferred · New Book of Tang 161, passage 3
Child of Father of Zhang Zhuo (張鷟父)
father 父
Strongly inferred · New Book of Tang 161, passage 5

Career and standing

adjutant in the household of the Prince of Qi 岐王府參軍
Appointed
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 161, passage 11
censor 御史
Appointed
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 161, passage 15
Vice Director of the Gate Office 司門員外郎
Held
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 161, passage 24
Entered
Exile · At Lingnan 嶺南
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 161, passage 17

Learning and skills

Earned
Credential Presented Scholar 進士
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 161, passage 9

Works and attributed material

Speech · Speaker · With Grandfather of Zhang Zhuo (張鷟大父)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 161, passages 5-7

Assessments and attributes

Assessment impetuous, unrestrained, florid writer; Bronze Cash Scholar · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 161, passages 16, 19

References in the histories

Search passages

History

8 passages

New Book of Tang, Chapter 161Volume 161 Biographies 86: Zhang, Zhao, Li, Zheng, Xu, Wang, Feng, Yu · 8 passages

祖鷟，字文成，早惠絕倫。 His grandfather Zhang Zhuo, styled Wencheng, showed precocious brilliance unmatched among his peers.

遂命以名。 He thereupon gave him the name Wencheng.

員外郎員半千數為公卿稱「鷟文辭猶青銅錢，萬選萬中」，時號鷟「青錢學士」。 Supervising secretary Yuan Banqian often told the princes and ministers, saying, "Zhuo's literary compositions are like bronze cash—ten thousand choices, ten thousand hits," and the age called Zhuo the "Bronze Cash Scholar."

證聖中，天官侍郎劉奇以鷟及司馬锽為御史。 During the Zhensheng era, vice director of the Bureau of Astronomy Liu Qi recommended Zhuo and Sima Zheng for appointment as censors.

開元初，御史李全交劾鷟多口語訕短時政，貶嶺南； At the beginning of Kaiyuan, censor Li Quanjiao impeached Zhuo for repeatedly mocking and denigrating current affairs, and he was demoted to Lingnan.

刑部尚書李日知訟斥太重，得內徙。 Minister of Justice Li Rizhi protested that the sentence was too harsh, and Zhuo was allowed an internal transfer instead.

鷟屬文下筆輒成，浮艷少理致，其論著率詆誚蕪猥，然大行一時，晚進莫不傳記。 Zhuo's compositions came from his brush at once, but they were florid and thin in substance; his essays mostly traded in ridicule and vulgarity, yet for a time they circulated everywhere, and younger scholars all copied and passed them on.

武後時，中人馬仙童陷默啜，問：「文成在否？」 During Empress Wu's reign, the eunuch Ma Xiantong was captured by Mohechuo, who asked, "Is Wencheng still alive?"