Writers › Writer / Poet
Zhang Ji
Mid-Tang poet, courtesy name Wenchang, who took the jinshi in 799 and ended as Vice Rector of the Imperial University; his yuefu sympathise with ordinary people, and he is paired with Wang Jian as the Zhang-Wang school.
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 Courtesy name Wenchang · Zhang, Rector of the Imperial University · Zhang of the Bureau of Waterways
Zhang Ji, courtesy name Wenchang, was from Wu commandery and later settled at Wujiang in Hezhou (modern He County, Anhui); he was born around 767 and died around 830. He took the jinshi in 799, served as Invocator in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, was recommended by Han Yu as Erudite of the Imperial University, and passed through the Bureau of Waterways and the Bureau of Guests to end as Vice Rector, hence the names Zhang Siye and Zhang Shuibu. Of humble birth, he wrote yuefu that criticise society and sympathise with the people; Bai Juyi praised him as especially skilled in yuefu. Jie Fu Yin and Mo Fan Guren are among his best-known poems, and he is paired with Wang Jian as the Zhang-Wang school.
Life and times
Dates c. 767–c. 830 CE