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Zhang Heng

Eastern Han scholar and poet who twice served as grand astrologer, built a water-driven armillary sphere and a seismoscope, and spent ten years on his Two Capitals rhapsodies

Also known as Zi Pingzi · Zhang Ping Zi

Zhang Heng, courtesy name Pingzi, came from Xi'e in Nanyang. He studied at the Imperial Academy in Luoyang but declined to seek office. His Rhapsodies on the Two Capitals (Er jing fu), a veiled rebuke of noble extravagance modelled on Ban Gu, took him ten years. Summoned to court under Emperor An, he twice served as grand astrologer, built a water-powered armillary sphere and expounded the theory of a spherical heaven in The Spiritual Constitution of the Universe (Lingxian). In 132 he made his seismoscope; the Book of Later Han (Hou Hanshu) says it once registered a tremor no one in the capital had felt, and days later a courier reported an earthquake in Longxi. He later served as chancellor of Hejian, curbing local strongmen, and returned to court as a secretary before his death in 139. His "Rhapsody on Returning to the Fields" is usually dated to his last years. A crater on the far side of the Moon bears his name.

Life and times

  1. 78 CEBornHan
  2. 139 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Rhapsodies5
    1. Rhapsody on Returning to the FieldsHanZhang Heng's short lyrical rhapsody on quitting court for the fields, model for later idylls
    2. Rhapsodies on the Two MetropolisesHanZhang Heng's vast Han rhapsodies on Chang'an and Luoyang, modelled on Ban Gu, with critique
    3. Rhapsody on Contemplating the MysteryHanSlandered at court, Zhang Heng roams heaven and earth in spirit, then comes home to the Way
    4. Rhapsodies on the Two Metropolises: Rhapsody on the Eastern MetropolisHan
    5. Rhapsodies on the Two Metropolises: Rhapsody on the Western MetropolisHan
  2. Literature · Poetry2
    1. Song of Harmonious AccordHanZhang Heng's early five-character poem in the voice of a new bride devoted to her husband
    2. Poem of Four SorrowsHanZhang Heng's four-stanza poem from his Hejian posting, longing toward each of the four quarters
  3. Literature · Sayings2
    1. The Fair Month of Mid-SpringHanLine from Zhang Heng's Returning to the Fields: mid-spring's fair, clear month
    2. Mid-Spring Days of Mild Air and Clear SkiesHanLine from Zhang Heng's Rhapsody on Returning to the Fields: a mild, clear mid-spring
  4. Treasures · Implements1
    1. Zhang Heng's SeismoscopeEastern Han dynastyZhang Heng's seismoscope, the original now lost