Wang Han

Also known as Zi Ziyu · Wang Liangzhou

Wang Han, courtesy name Ziyu, came from Jinyang in Bingzhou; reckless and proud of his talent, he passed the metropolitan examination, though his dates are unknown. Zhang Jiazhen, administrator of Bingzhou, treated him generously, and Wang once sang and danced at a banquet to toast him; Zhang Yue, who followed, honoured him still more, and after a further decree examination he became sheriff of Changle. When Zhang Yue joined the government in the capital he made Wang a collator in the imperial library, then a court usher and vice director in the ministry of war. The New Tang History says he kept singers and dancers at home and lived like a prince; once Zhang Yue fell from power he was sent out to Ruzhou and Xianzhou, and his hunting and drinking parties finally had him demoted to marshal of Daozhou, where he died. Some fourteen of his poems survive, and his Liangzhou Song, opening with grape wine in luminous cups, was chosen for the Three Hundred Tang Poems.