Quick Facts
Biography
Zhang Hu (792?–853?) was a Chinese poet of the mid-Tang dynasty. His courtesy name was Chengji.
After travelling to the capital of Chang'an, he was unsuccessful in seeking a position at court, and spent the latter half of his life travelling to famous places and composing poetry. The majority of his surviving poems are on historical topics and famous sights that he visited in his travels.
Biography
Zhang Hu was born in 792, in Qinghe (modern Qinghe County, Hebei or Shandong) or possibly Nanyang (modern Nanyang, Henan). His courtesy name was Chengji.
He flourished between 820 and 845. Living early on in Gusu, in the Changqing era (821–824) he was summoned to the capital Chang'an on the recommendation of Linghu Chu. Linghu Chu had known Hu through the 810s, and his recommendation memorial was submitted along with 300 of Hu's poems.
However, he failed to find employment at court due to the opposition of Yuan Zhen, who claimed Hu lacked literary talent, and moved to Huainan where he spent his days visiting famous temples and places of scenic beauty and devoting himself to poetic composition.
Later, he retired to Danyang (modern Danyang, Jiangsu, where spent the rest of his days as a private citizen.
He probably died in 852 or 853.
Poetry
Roughly 350 of his poems survive, most being on famous temples and places of scenic beauty that he visited in travels.
He primarily wrote quatrains on historical topics. There is an anthology of his poetry called the Zhang Chushi Shiji (simplified Chinese: 张処士诗集; traditional Chinese: 張處士詩集; pinyin: Zhāng Chǔshì Shījí; Wade–Giles: Chang2 Ch'u3shih4 Shih2chi1; literally: "Collection of Poems by Retired Scholar Zhang").
He wrote a dozen poems on the reign of Xuanzong, of which the following notably deals with the emperor's relationship with an older sister of Yang Guifei:
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Among his better-known poems is the wuyan lüshi "Jinshan-si" (Chinese: 金山寺; pinyin: Jīnshān-sì; Wade–Giles: Chin2shan2-ssu4; literally: "Jinshan Temple" or "Golden Mountain Temple"):
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Five of his poems were included in the Three Hundred Tang Poems.
Works cited
- "Zhang Hu (Chō Ko in Japanese)". Britannica Kokusai Dai-Hyakkajiten (in Japanese). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2014. Archived from the original on 2016-11-05. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
- Mair, Victor H. (ed.) (2001). The Columbia History of Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10984-9. (Amazon Kindle edition.)
- Moore, Oliver J. (2004). Rituals of Recruitment in Tang China: Reading an Annual Programme in the Collected Statements of Wang Dingbao (870–940). 1. Leiden/Boston: Brill. p. 334. OCLC 938017651.
- Ueki, Hisayuki; Uno, Naoto; Matsubara, Akira (1999). "Shijin to Shi no Shōgai (Chō Ko)". In Matsuura, Tomohisa. Kanshi no Jiten 漢詩の事典 (in Japanese). 1. Tokyo: Taishūkan Shoten. p. 128. OCLC 41025662.
- Liu, Ning (2015). "Yang, Lady of Guo State". In Lee, Lily Xiao Hong; Wiles, Sue. Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Tang Through Ming 618–1644. 1. Translated by Lee, Lily Xiao Hong. London/New York: Routledge. pp. 540–541. OCLC 882238830.