Writers › Writer / Poet
Zhao Lin
Late Tang official and author of the miscellany Yinhua Lu, source of expressions such as 'the whole hall bursts into laughter'.
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Zi Zezhang
Zhao Lin, courtesy name Zezhang, from Nanyang, passed the jinshi examination in 834, served as a remonstrance official and vice-director, and became Prefect of Quzhou in the Dazhong era. His six-chapter miscellany Yinhua Lu, arranged under the five musical notes, records anecdotes of Tang emperors, ministers and scholars and is a valued historical source. Expressions such as 'the whole hall bursts into laughter' come from this book.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; jinshi 834 CE, active in the late Tang