Zhang Xu

	Zhang Xu
Traditional Chinese	張旭
Simplified Chinese	张旭
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Zhāng Xù
Wade–Giles	Chang1 Hsü4
IPA	[ʈʂáŋ ɕŷ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Jēung Yūk
Southern Min
Tâi-lô	Tiunn Hiok

Last updated March 01, 2019

An example of Zhang Xu's calligraphy Crazyzhangxu.jpg — An example of Zhang Xu's calligraphy

Zhang Xu (Chinese :張旭, fl. 8th century), courtesy name Bogao (伯高), was a Chinese calligrapher and poet of the Tang Dynasty.

Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong and Macau, and in the Kangxi Dictionary. The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han Dynasty, and have been more or less stable since the 5th century.

Courtesy name name bestowed in adulthood in East Asian cultures

A courtesy name, also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the Sinosphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

A native of Suzhou, he became an official during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. Zhang was known as one of the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup. Legend has it that whenever he was drunk, he would use his hair as brush to perform his art, and upon his waking up, he would be amazed by the quality of those works but failed to produce them again in his sober state.

Suzhou, formerly romanized as Soochow, is a major city located in southeastern Jiangsu Province of East China, about 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Shanghai. It is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce, and the second largest city in the province, after its capital Nanjing. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the shores of Lake Tai and belongs to the Yangtze River Delta region. Administratively, Suzhou is a prefecture-level city with a population of 4.33 million in its city proper, and a total resident population of 10.58 million in its administrative area. Its urban population grew at an unprecedented rate of 6.5% between 2000 and 2014, which is the highest among cities with more than 5 million people.

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, also commonly known as Emperor Ming of Tang or Illustrious August, personal name Li Longji, also known as Wu Longji from 690 to 705, was the seventh emperor of the Tang dynasty in China, reigning from 713 to 756 C.E. His reign of 43 years was the longest during the Tang dynasty. In the early half of his reign he was a diligent and astute ruler. Ably assisted by capable chancellors like Yao Chong, Song Jing and Zhang Yue, he was credited with bringing Tang China to a pinnacle of culture and power. Emperor Xuanzong, however, was blamed for over-trusting Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong and An Lushan during his late reign, with Tang's golden age ending in the Anshi Rebellion.

The Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup or Eight Immortals Indulged in Wine were a group of Tang Dynasty scholars who are known for their love of alcoholic beverages. They are not deified and xiān is metaphorical. The term is used in a poem by Du Fu, as well as in the biography of Li Bai in the New Book of Tang.

Though more well known for his explosive cursive script, he excelled in the regular script. There is an anecdote that says he grasped the essence of cursive writing by observing some porters fight for their way with the guard of honor of some princess, and by watching the solo performance of a famous sword-dancer named Lady Gongsun (公孫大娘). He was known as 草聖 (the Divine Grassist) for his great skill in the grass script.^[1]

Cursive script, often mistranslated as grass script, is a script style used in Chinese and East Asian calligraphy. Cursive script is faster to write than other styles, but difficult to read for those unfamiliar with it. It functions primarily as a kind of shorthand script or calligraphic style. People who can read standard or printed forms of Chinese or related scripts may not be able to comprehend this script.

Regular script Chinese writing style, appearing ca. 200 CE and maturing around the 7th century, on which most modern typefaces are based

Regular script, also called 正楷, 真書 (zhēnshū), 楷體 (kǎitǐ) and 正書 (zhèngshū), is the newest of the Chinese script styles, hence most common in modern writings and publications.

Under the excitement of art (and wine), he became oblivious of social expectations, and would often fling off his cap in the presence of princes and nobles. Hence he came to be known as 張顛 (Zhang the Madman).^[1] He is often paired with the younger Huaisu as the two greatest cursive calligraphers of the Tang Dynasty. The duo is affectionately referred to as "the crazy Zhang and the drunk Su" (顛張醉素).

Huaisu, courtesy name Zangzhen (藏真), was a Buddhist monk and calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty, famous for his cursive calligraphy. Fewer than 10 pieces of his works have survived. One of his representative works is Huai Su's Autobiography.

One of Zhang Xu's poems was included in the poetry anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems .

The Three Hundred Tang Poems is an anthology of poems from the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907) first compiled around 1763 by Sun Zhu (1722–1778), the Qing Dynasty scholar, also known as Hengtang Tuishi. Various later editions also exist. All editions contain slightly more than 300 total poems: in this case, three hundred means not exactly 300 but refers to an estimative quantification; the ten, twenty, or more extra poems represent a sort of a good luck bonus, analogous to the "baker's dozen" in the West. Even more, the number 300 was a classic number for a poetry collection due to the influence of the Classic of Poetry, which was generally known as The Three Hundred Poems.

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Wang Xizhi was a Chinese writer and official who lived during the Jin Dynasty (265–420), best known for his mastery of Chinese calligraphy. Wang is generally regarded as the greatest Chinese calligrapher in history, and was a master of all forms of Chinese calligraphy, especially the running script. Furthermore, he is known as one of the Four Talented Calligraphers (四賢) in Chinese calligraphy. Emperor Taizong of Tang admired his works so much that the original Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion was said to be buried with the emperor in his mausoleum.

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Wen Zhengming, born Wen Bi, was a leading Ming dynasty painter, calligrapher, poet, and scholar. He was regarded as one of the Four Masters of Ming painting.

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Yan Zhenqing was a leading Chinese calligrapher and a loyal governor of the Tang Dynasty. His artistic accomplishment in Chinese calligraphy is equal to that of the greatest master calligraphers of history, and his regular script style, Yan, is often imitated.

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Tang Yin, courtesy name Tang Bohu (唐伯虎), was a Chinese scholar, painter, calligrapher, and poet of the Ming dynasty period whose life story has become a part of popular lore. Even though he was born during the Ming dynasty, many of his paintings, especially those of people, were illustrated with elements from Pre-Tang to Song dynasty art.

The arts of China have varied throughout its ancient history, divided into periods by the ruling dynasties of China and changing technology, but still containing a high degree of continuity. Different forms of art have been influenced by great philosophers, teachers, religious figures and even political leaders. The arrival of Buddhism and modern Western influence produced especially large changes. Chinese art encompasses fine arts, folk arts and performance arts.

Zhang Xun was a general of the Chinese Tang Dynasty. He was known for defending Yongqiu and Suiyang during the An Shi Rebellion against the rebel armies of Yan, and thus, his supporters asserted, he blocked Yan forces from attacking and capturing the fertile Tang territory south of the Huai River. However, he was severely criticized by some contemporaries and some later historians as lacking humanity due to his encouragement of cannibalism during the Battle of Suiyang. Other historians praised him for his great faithfulness to Tang.

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Zhang Ruoxu was a Chinese poet of the early Tang dynasty from Yangzhou in modern Jiangsu province. He is best known for "Spring River in the Flower Moon Night", one of the most unique and influential Tang poems, which has inspired numerous later artworks.

The (1254) Zitong 字通 or Mastery of Characters is a Chinese dictionary of orthography that was compiled by the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) scholar Li Congzhou 李從周. It discussed logographic differences among Chinese characters written in the ancient Qin dynasty seal script, standard Han dynasty clerical script, and contemporary Song regular script.

References

Zhu, Guantian, "Zhang Xu" ^{[ permanent dead link ]}. Encyclopedia of China (Arts Edition), 1st ed.

The Encyclopedia of China is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, beginning in 1980 with a volume on astronomy; the final volume was completed in 1993. It comprised 74 volumes, with more than 80,000 entries. Arranged by subject, which numbered 66, within each subject, entries were arranged by pinyin as many modern Chinese dictionaries have been. A Uyghur language edition was also published in 2015.

1 2 This article incorporates text from entry Chang Hsü in A Chinese Biographical Dictionary by Herbert A. Giles (1898), a publication now in the public domain.

External links

Zhang Xu and his Calligraphy Gallery at China Online Museum
Book 117 of the Quan Tangshi (which includes collected poems by Zhang Xu) in the Chinese Text Project

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[CBD-1] 1 2 This article incorporates text from entry Chang Hsü in A Chinese Biographical Dictionary by Herbert A. Giles (1898), a publication now in the public domain.