Writers › Writer / Poet
Wei Zhao
Wu historian and classicist, courtesy name Hongsi, written Wei Yao in the Sanguo Zhi to avoid a taboo, co-compiler of the Wu Shu and annotator of the Guoyu.
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 Wei Yao (name changed to avoid a taboo) · Zi Hongsi
Wei Zhao, courtesy name Hongsi, came from Yunyang in Wu commandery (modern Danyang, Jiangsu) and was born in 201. He began as a chancellor's clerk, magistrate of Xi'an and gentleman of the Masters of Writing; under Sun Xiu he was palace secretary and libationer of the erudites, running the state school, and under Sun Hao he was made Marquis of Gaoling, chief of the palace secretariat and palace attendant, while also directing the court historiographers. With Hua He and others he compiled the Wu Shu and wrote a commentary on the Guoyu and the essay 'On Games of Chess'. Relations with Sun Hao worsened and he was put to death in 273, aged seventy-three. The Sanguo Zhi writes his name Wei Yao to avoid the taboo on Sima Zhao's name.
Life and times
Dates 201 CE–273 CE