Ministers › Provincial Governors
Han Chaozong
High Tang official, known as Han of Jingzhou, famed for promoting young talent and addressed in Li Bai's letter.
A walled hilltop city with a tall brick gate tower stands above a pine-covered cliff, its wall running along the ridge, while a long wooden bridge crosses a wide river below and plains, islets and layered mountains stretch into the distance, with no person in view.
Also known as Han of Jingzhou
Han Chaozong of Chang'an, son of Han Sifu, first made his name as a forthright remonstrator under Emperor Ruizong. In the Kaiyuan era he served as administrator of Jingzhou and then prefect of Xiangzhou and surveillance commissioner of Shannan East, earning such a reputation for discovering talent, including Meng Haoran, that scholars said they would rather meet Han of Jingzhou than be made a marquis. Early in the Tianbao era he became governor of the capital, but was later demoted to a post in Wuxing, where he died. Li Bai's Letter to Governor Han of Jingzhou is the young poet's petition to him.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active from Ruizong's reign to the early Tianbao era