Writers › Writer / Poet
Zhang Rong
Southern Qi man of letters from Wu county in Wu commandery, who served the Song and Qi and wrote the Menlü, arguing for practising both Buddhism and Daoism.
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 Siguang
Zhang Rong, courtesy name Siguang, came from Wu county in Wu commandery (modern Suzhou) and lived 444 to 497. He served the Liu Song as military adviser and as magistrate of Fengxi, then in the Southern Qi became Right Secretary to the Minister over the Masses. His Menlü, written for his family, argued for the combined practice of Buddhism and Daoism, and his collected works were known as the Zhang zhangshi ji; he is said to have recited his Sea Rhapsody on a sea crossing.
Life and times
Dates 444 CE–497 CE