[1]Life dates and identityZhang Jiuling is dated most consistently to 678–740, with 673 and 679 also appearing as birth years; he is identified as a Tang poet and calligrapher who held chancellorial office during the Kaiyuan era.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The identity record supplies his name, 678–740 dates, poet and calligrapher classifications, and the offices of tong Zhongshu menxia pingzhangshi and Zhongshu ling.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The biographical entries give 673 or 678, 678, and 673 as variant birth-year formulations, consistently give 740 as the death year, and describe him as a worthy minister and accomplished poet.
DILA Buddhist Authority Database張九齡 (A019386)The authority record names Zhang Jiuling, places his birth within 679, begins his death range in 740, and identifies him as male; the 679 value is one of the stated birth-year variants.
WikidataZhang Jiuling (Q712065)The English label and poet description agree with the identification, while the dated claims give 678 and 740.
[2]Names and originHis courtesy name was Zishou, he was also called Zhang Bowu and Zhang Qujiang, his posthumous name was Wenxian, and he came from Qujiang in Shaozhou, with Fanyang as his ancestral origin.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The name and address records list Zishou, Zhang Bowu, Wenxian, Qujiang as his native place, and Fanyang as his ancestral origin.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The biographical entries give the courtesy name, the alternative name Bowu, and Qujiang in Shaozhou; the profile identifies present-day Shaoguan as the location.
DILA Buddhist Authority Database張九齡 (A019386)The authority record lists Zishou, Zhang Qujiang, Wenxian, and Zhang Bowu, and gives Qujiang as the birthplace.
WikidataZhang Jiuling (Q712065)The name record supplies the English name and the aliases Wenxian, Zhang Bowu, and Zishou.
[3]Early characterA biographical note describes him as intelligent and skilled in composition from childhood.
DILA Buddhist Authority Database張九齡 (A019386)The biographical note says that he was intelligent from childhood and good at composing literary works.
[4]Examinations and first appointmentsThe dates of his jinshi success vary among 697, 702, and 707; he also passed the Caikeng Jingbang and Daomou Yilu examinations, after which he held the early posts of xiaoshulang, zuo shiyi, and zuo buque.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The biographical entries give the 697, 702, and 707 jinshi dates, mention the two special examinations, and describe the early appointments.
DILA Buddhist Authority Database張九齡 (A019386)The authority note uses the 702 Chang'an-year formulation for his jinshi success.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The examination entries list jinshi, Caikeng Jingbang, and Daomou Yilu; the office entries list xiaoshulang, zuo shiyi, and zuo buque.
[5]Early Kaiyuan officesDuring the early Kaiyuan period he held the offices of Libu yuanwailang, Sixun yuanwailang, Zhongshu sherenshi, and Taichang shaoqing, and Zhang Shuo valued his talent and judgment.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The biographies list Sixun yuanwailang, Zhongshu sherenshi, and Taichang shaoqing, and explicitly say that Chancellor Zhang Shuo valued his talent and judgment and advanced him to Zhongshu sherenshi.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The office data lists Libu yuanwailang, Sixun yuanwailang, Zhongshu sherenshi, and Taichang shaoqing.
[6]Provincial and Lingnan appointmentsAfter Zhang Shuo lost office in 726, Zhang Jiuling became Taichang shaoqing and governor of Jizhou, requested transfer to Hongzhou to care for his mother, then served in Guizhou and held censorial and Lingnan inspection appointments.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The biographies describe the 726 change after Zhang Shuo's dismissal, the Jizhou, Hongzhou, and Guizhou appointments, care for his mother, and the censorial and Lingnan assignments.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The office records list the 726 Jizhou appointment, Hongzhou and Guizhou offices, and the Lingnan inspectorate.
[7]Entry into the central governmentHis approved draft memorials led to appointments in the Secretariat and Jixian Academy, followed by offices in the Ministry of Works and the drafting service; in 733 he became tong Zhongshu menxia pingzhangshi, in 734 Zhongshu ling and supervisor of national history, and he received the Qujiang and Shixing titles.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The biographies detail the approved memorials, the Secretariat and Jixian appointments, later central offices, the 733 and 734 promotions, national-history work, and the two titles.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The office and title data list secretary supervisor, vice minister of works, Zhongshu shilang, tong Zhongshu menxia pingzhangshi, Zhongshu ling, Jixian academician, national-history service, and the Shixing title, with dates in 733–735.
[8]ChancellorshipHe was called a worthy minister during his chancellorship and unsuccessfully tried to decline the office of tong Zhongshu menxia pingzhangshi.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The biographies call him a worthy minister and state that he tried to decline the appointment as tong Zhongshu menxia pingzhangshi but was not allowed to do so.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The office data confirms his service as tong Zhongshu menxia pingzhangshi and Zhongshu ling.
[9]Removal and demotionIn 736 Li Linfu opposed and pressured him; his resistance to the appointment of Zhang Shougui and Niu Xianke brought covert intrigues, his chancellorship ended, and he became Right Chancellor before being demoted to Jingzhou the following year.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The biographies describe Li Linfu's opposition, the resistance to Zhang Shougui and Niu Xianke, the end of the chancellorship, the Right Chancellor appointment, and the Jingzhou demotion; one account dates the demotion differently.
DILA Buddhist Authority Database張九齡 (A019386)The authority note likewise gives the sequence of Li Linfu's hostility, the Right Chancellor post, and the Jingzhou demotion.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The office records date the Right Chancellor appointment to 736 and the Jingzhou Chief Secretary appointment to 737.
[10]Final years and deathIn Jingzhou he turned to literature and history without brooding over his situation; in 740 he returned home to sweep ancestral graves and died there on the seventh day of the fifth month.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The biographies state that he used literature and history to occupy himself in Jingzhou, died in 740, and in a fuller account requested leave to sweep the ancestral graves before dying in his native place on the seventh day of the fifth month.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The identity record gives 740 as the death year, and the final office record extends the Jingzhou appointment to 740.
DILA Buddhist Authority Database張九齡 (A019386)The authority record begins the death range in 740 and says that he requested leave to return and tend the ancestral graves before his death.
[11]Posthumous honorsAccounts give his age at death as either 63 or 68; he was posthumously made Grand Governor of Jingzhou, received the name Wenxian, and was granted the rank of Situ in the first year of Jianzhong.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The biographies distinguish between an age of 63 and the 68 given in two Tang histories, and record the Jingzhou posthumous grant, Wenxian, and the Jianzhong Situ grant.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The name record identifies Wenxian as the posthumous name.
DILA Buddhist Authority Database張九齡 (A019386)The authority record also lists Wenxian among his name forms.
[12]Family and descendantsThe kinship data name his father Zhang Hongyu, father-in-law Tan Hui, brother Zhang Jiugao, son Zhang Zheng, Zhang Zheng as an heir, Zhang Chang as a nephew's grandson or grandnephew, and Zhang Gu as a direct descendant.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The kinship records list the father, father-in-law, brother, son, heir, nephew's grandson or grandnephew, and direct descendant with their names.
[13]Associates and literary exchangeIn 737 he participated in the Wei family gathering at Xiaoyaogu with Wang Wei and other officials and poets, and the social records also associate him with Xu Jian's tomb inscription and Li Bi's admiration.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The association records give the 737 Xiaoyaogu gathering, the participating names, the exchange of poetry and prose, the tomb inscription for Xu Jian, and Li Bi's admiration or regard.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The biography also says that Zhang Shuo valued his talent and judgment, placing the central-career narrative alongside these associations.
[14]Poetry and proseZhang Jiuling excelled in poetry and prose, especially stele and funerary inscriptions; his poetry was clear and elegant with deep, subtle resonance, and his twelve Ganyu poems were ranked with Chen Zi'ang's.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The literary biography calls him accomplished in poetry and prose, especially in inscriptions, and describes the clarity, elegance, depth, and subtle resonance of his poetry and the standing of the twelve Ganyu poems beside Chen Zi'ang.
[15]Archaizing style and influenceHis five-character old-style poems looked back to Han and Wei models and were credited with aiding the restoration of early Tang poetry; his scenic and lyrical poems were considered the beginning of the plain style associated with Wang Wei, Meng Haoran, Chu Guangxi, Chang Jian, and Wei Yingwu.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The poetry criticism connects him with Han and Wei models, credits him with archaizing achievements, describes the plain and harmonious quality and resonant imagery of his poems, and regards his style as opening the line of Wang Wei, Meng Haoran, Chu Guangxi, Chang Jian, and Wei Yingwu.
[16]Varied critical assessmentsLater criticism praised the extraordinary resonance of the Ganyu poems and their parity with Chen Zi'ang, but some critics judged portions structurally inferior while still praising their elevated tone, plaintive language, clear musicality, and vivid descriptive writing.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The criticism supplies the ideas of xingji, compact and cool diction, extraordinary resonance and parity with Chen Zi'ang, as well as the contrasting judgment on structure and the praise of tone, language, musicality, and descriptive poems.
[17]Prose and political imageHis prose was praised as elegant, expansive, and substantial and as no less distinguished than that of Yan and Xu; his image as an upright minister who resisted evil and assisted government through principle accompanied his reputation as a worthy minister of the Kaiyuan era.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The criticism describes him as upright and principled, calls him a worthy minister of the Kaiyuan era, and praises his prose as elegant, broad, and substantial, comparable with or above the writers Yan and Xu.
[18]Collected works and surviving poemsThe surviving twenty-juan collection appears under the titles Qujiang Zhang xiansheng wenji and Qujiang ji; three juan of poetry are preserved in Quan Tang shi and four further poems are supplied by its two supplements.
Souyun張九齡 (15164)The literary entries give the twenty-juan collection, the alternative title, three juan of poetry, and four supplemental poems.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The works list contains Qujiang ji and Qujiang Zhang xiansheng wenji.
DILA Buddhist Authority Database張九齡 (A019386)The authority note also names the Zhang Qujiang collection, supporting the collection's alternate naming.
[19]Jinjing lu and Qianqiu jinjianWhile serving as Zhongshu ling, he presented a five-juan work at the Tianchang Festival instead of rare gifts; it is titled Jinjing lu in one account and Qianqiu jinjian in another work listing.
DILA Buddhist Authority Database張九齡 (A019386)The authority note says that during his service as Zhongshu ling he alone presented the five-juan Jinjing lu at the Tianchang Festival, discussing the rise and fall of earlier states.
CBDBZhang Jiuling (3130)The works list gives the alternate title Qianqiu jinjian and identifies Zhang Jiuling as its author.
CBDB
