Zhang Zhao

Zhang Zhao (894–972), known as Zhang Zhaoyuan before 947, courtesy name Qianfu, was a Chinese scholar-official, historian, and poet during the Five Dynasties period and early Song dynasty. He served in the imperial government of the Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, Later Zhou and Song dynasties. Today, Zhang Zhao is best known for his contributions to Tang dynasty and Five Dynasties history, as a main author of Old Book of Tang and many Veritable Records since Li Siyuan.

Early life Zhang Zhao (born Zhang Zhaoyuan) claimed descent from Zhang Er (died 202 BC). In the late Tang dynasty, his grandfather Zhang Chuping (張楚平) served as a county magistrate in Shouzhang County (壽張, around modern Yanggu County, Shandong). Some time during the upheavals of the late 870s and early 880s, Zhang Chuping disappeared on his way to the Tang capital Chang'an, which was captured by rebels under Huang Chao in 881.

More than a decade later, Zhang Zhaoyuan's father Zhang Zhi (張直) received an appointment under the military governor (warlord) Wang Shifan, who ruled over Pinglu Circuit (平盧) on the Shandong peninsula, headquartered in Qing Prefecture. Wang Shifan actively opened schools and filled them with Confucian scholars he recruited, Zhang Zhi among them. Zhang Zhi taught the classics like I Ching and Spring and Autumn Annals. Zhang Zhaoyuan followed him there. Fearing that Li Cunzhao could try to take over Taiyuan's command with the help of two eunuchs who had arrived much earlier, general Fu Yanchao (符彥超) ignored Zhang Xian's instruction and slaughtered Li Cunzhao and the two eunuchs. When Fu Yanchao's soldiers arrested Zhang Zhaoyuan, he allegedly said "When a lord is humiliated, his subject dies without regret." Fu Yanchao praised and released him, but forced him to write announcements to calm the public. Zhang Xian fled and was eventually executed on orders of Li Siyuan, who indeed succeeded as emperor of Later Tang.