Biography

Zhang Hu was born in 792, in Qinghe (modern Qinghe County, Hebei or Shandong) or possibly Nanyang (modern Nanyang, Henan). His courtesy name was Chengji.

Zhang flourished between 820 and 845. Living early on in Gusu, in the Changqing era (821–824) he was summoned to the capital Chang'an on the recommendation of Linghu Chu. Linghu had known Zhang through the 810s, and his recommendation memorial was submitted along with 300 of Zhang's poems. However, he failed to find employment at court due to the opposition of Yuan Zhen, who claimed Zhang lacked literary talent. Zhang moved to Huainan, where he spent his days visiting famous temples and places of scenic beauty and devoting himself to poetry composition.

Later, Zhang retired to Danyang (modern Danyang, Jiangsu), where spent the rest of his days as a private citizen. He likely died in 852 or 853.

Poetry

Roughly 350 of Zhang's poems have survived, most of which are based on famous temples and places of scenic beauty that he visited in his travels. He primarily wrote quatrains on historical topics. There is an anthology of his poetry called the Zhang Chushi Shiji (張處士詩集 Zhāng Chǔshì Shījí, literally Collection of Poems by Retired Scholar Zhang).

Zhang wrote a dozen poems on the reign of Xuanzong, of which the following notably deals with the emperor's relationship with an older sister of Yang Guifei:

Among Zhang's better-known poems is the "Jinshan-si" (金山寺 Jīnshān-sì|w=Chin2shan2-ssu4|l=Jinshan Temple" or "Golden Mountain Temple):

Five of Zhang's poems were included in the Three Hundred Tang Poems.

代表作

唐代韋莊《又玄集》、北宋王安石《唐百家詩選》、清人沈德潛《唐詩別裁》皆選有張祜作品。其代表作品有《題金陵渡》、《雁門太守行》、《送蘇紹之歸嶺南》、《旅次石頭岸》、《隋宮懷古》、《從軍行》、《愛妾換馬》、《宮詞二首》、《夜宿湓浦逢崔升》、《聽箏》、《散花樓》、《悲納鐵》、《櫻桃》等，其中《題金陵渡》和《宮詞二首》流傳頗廣。集十卷，今編詩二卷（全唐詩中卷第五百一十和五百一十一）。

注釋

參考書目

• 譚優學：《唐詩人行年考－張祜行年考》（四川人民出版社，1981年）

• 吳在慶：《張祜卒年考辨》，人文雜誌，1985年02期