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Chang Qu
Eastern Jin historian from Shu who served the Cheng-Han state and, after its fall, wrote the Huayang Guozhi, a history and gazetteer of the southwest.
In an archive hall, tall wooden shelves hold scrolls and bound books with small tags, and one person climbs a ladder with their back turned; a long table in front holds an unrolled river map, a bronze lamp and a copper jug, with a city wall seen through the window.
Also known as Zi Daojiang · Chang Daojiang
- Roles
- Historian
Chang Qu, courtesy name Daojiang, came from a leading family of Jiangyuan in Shu commandery. He served the Cheng-Han state as a cavalier attendant in charge of historical writing. When the Jin general Huan Wen reached Chengdu in 347, the Book of Jin records that Chang Qu and the palace secretary Wang Gu urged the ruler Li Shi to surrender. Under Jin he drew on his earlier writings and local records to compile the Huayang Guozhi, covering the geography, history and notable people of Liang, Yi and Ning provinces from antiquity to 347. It is one of the oldest surviving local histories and a basic source for early Sichuan. His history of the Cheng-Han, the Han zhi shu, is lost.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; Cheng-Han cavalier attendant who urged Li Shi to surrender to Jin in 347, then wrote the Huayang Guozhi under Jin (c. 348–354)