From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Zhang Yizhi
Zhang Yizhi
Zhang Yizhi (張易之) (died February 20, 705[1]), formally them, and that if they advocated Li Zhe’s return and in-
the Duke of Heng (恆公), nickname Wulang (五郎), was stallation as crown prince, they would be able to main-
an official of Wu Zetian’s Zhou Dynasty who, along with tain their power. The Zhangs agreed and advocated Li
his brother Zhang Changzong, became a lover of Wu Zet- Zhe’s return to Wu Zetian, who subsequently recalled Li
ian and became very powerful late in her reign. Both he Zhe from exile and made him crown prince.
and his brother were killed in a coup that overthrew Wu In 699, Zhang Yizhi was made the director of imperial
Zetian in 705. attendants (控鶴監, Konghe Jian), overseeing a group of
imperial attendants, including Zhang Changzong, Ji, Tian
Background Guidao (田歸道), Li Jiongxiu, Xue Ji, and Yuan Banqian
(員半千).
It is not known when Zhang Yizhi was born. It is known In 700, Zhang Yizhi was on one occasion offended by
that his father Zhang Xizang (張希臧) had, at one point, the official Yang Yuanxi (楊元禧) -- a grandnephew of
served as the census officer of Tang Dynasty’s capital the Sui Dynasty chancellor Yang Su, who had been be-
prefecture Yong Prefecture (雍州, roughly modern Xi’an, lieved to be involved with Emperor Yang of Sui in killing
Shaanxi) and was a distant nephew of the chancellor Emperor Yang’s father Emperor Wen of Sui. Zhang Yizhi
Zhang Xingcheng. His mother might be Lady Wei or Lady retaliated against Yang Yuanxi by arguing to Wu Zetian
Zang.[2] As per Tang regulations, Zhang Yizhi, as the son that family members of Yang Su should not be allowed
of an official, was able to get into a civil service career to serve in the capital, and Wu Zetian agreed, demoting
himself in his 20s, serving as the imperial director of Yang Yuanxi and his brother Yang Yuanheng (楊元亨)
horses (尚乘奉御, Shangcheng Fengyu). It was said that his out of the capital Luoyang.
skin at that time was white and beautiful, and that he was Also in 700, in order to somewhat shield her rela-
good at singing. tionship with the Zhangs from the public eye, Wu Zetian
commissioned them and the imperial scholar Li Jiao to
As Wu Zetian’s lover compile a work known as the Essence of Pearls from the
Three Religions (三教珠英, Sanjiao Zhuying) -- a compila-
In 697, Zhang Yizhi’s younger brother Zhang Changzong tion of various poetry about Confucianism, Buddhism,
was referred to Wu Zetian, then ruling with the title of and Taoism -- to give the Zhangs a legitimate reason to
emperor -- the only woman in the history of China rec- enter the palace.
ognized for doing so—by Wu Zetian’s daughter Princess By 701, Wu Zetian, then 76 years old, had been largely
Taiping, to be Wu Zetian’s lover. Zhang Changzong fur- entrusting the affairs of state to Zhang Yizhi and Zhang
ther told Wu Zetian that Zhang Yizhi was even more skill- Changzong—a situation that her grandson Li Chongrun
ful than he was, and so Wu Zetian took Zhang Yizhi as (son of Li Zhe, who had by now changed his name to
a lover as well. Both were repeatedly promoted—Zhang Xian) disapproved and had discussed with his sister Li
Yizhi as the deputy minister of military supplies (司衛 Xianhui (李仙蕙) the Lady Yongtai and Li Xianhui’s hus-
少卿, Siwei Shaoqing) -- and both were said to often put band, Wu Zetian’s grandnephew Wu Yanji (武延基) the
makeup on their faces and dressing in a beautiful man- Prince of Wei. When the Zhangs became aware of the
ner. Their mother or mothers were given titles as grand conversation, they reported this to Wu Zetian, who saw
ladies, and Wu Zetian further ordered the chancellor Li this discussion as an implicit criticism of herself, and she
Jiongxiu to serve as the lover for one of them.[3] Even ordered Li Chongrun, Li Xianhui, and Wu Yanji to commit
the most powerful officials flattered them, and referred suicide.[4][5]
them by endearing nicknames—Zhang Yizhi as Wulang In 702, Wu Zetian induced Li Zhe, his younger brother
and Zhang Changzong as Liulang (implying that Zhang Li Dan the Prince of Xiang, and Princess Taiping to sub-
Yizhi was the fifth-born son and Zhang Changzong was mit formal petitions to create Zhang Changzong a prince.
the sixth-born son of Zhang Xizang). Wu Zetian formally rejected the petitions, but then creat-
In 698, Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong were in- ed Zhang Changzong the Duke of Ye and Zhang Yizhi the
volved in the recall from exile of Wu Zetian’s son Li Zhe Duke of Heng.
the Prince of Luling, who had briefly been emperor in By 703, the Zhangs were displeased with the chancel-
684. The Zhangs’ colleague as imperial attendant, Ji Xu, lor Wei Yuanzhong, as Wei had repeatedly rebuffed the
had persuaded them that they were becoming objects of promotion of their brother Zhang Changqi (張昌期) and
hatred due to the favor that Wu Zetian had shown for had publicly humiliated another brother, Zhang Changyi
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Zhang Yizhi
(張昌儀). When Wu Zetian suffered a minor illness, the different mothers -- with one of them being Lady
Zhangs became concerned that if Wu Zetian had died, Wei and one of them being Lady Zang, without
they would be killed by Wei, and therefore falsely ac- specifying which mother gave birth to which son.
cused Wei and a favorite of Princess Taiping, Gao Jian (高 However, the Book of Tang indicated that they were
戩), of having speculated about Wu Zetian’s death. They born of a single mother -- a Lady Wei Azang (韋阿
persuaded the official Zhang Shuo to falsely corroborate 臧). Compare Book of Tang, vol. 78,[1] with New Book
the accusations against Wei, although, once Zhang Shuo of Tang, vol. 104 [2] and Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 206. It is
was brought into Wu Zetian’s presence, he not only re- not clear which interpretation is correct.
canted the accusation against Wei but further accused [3] As stated above, it is not clear whether Zhang Yizhi
the Zhangs of suborning perjury from him. As a result, and Zhang Changzong had the same mother or not.
Wei, Gao, and Zhang Shuo were all exiled, but none of the The New Book of Tang and the Zizhi Tongjian,
three suffered death. Zhang Yizhi further accused eight adopting the two-mother interpretation, stated Li
people who held a send-off feast for Wei of treason, but Jiongxiu was Lady Zang’s lover, while the Book of
was not successful in getting the eight men executed. Tang stated that Li Jiongxiu was Lady Wei Azang’s
In 704, Zhang Yizhi was accused of corruption, and lover.
as a result of the investigation, Zhang Changyi and an- [4] The Zizhi Tongjian asserted that Li Chongrun was
other brother, Zhang Tongxiu (張同休), were removed forced to commit suicide, but the Book of Tang and
from their offices. The imperial censor Song Jing, who the New Book of Tang asserted in his biographies
had long resented the Zhangs, volunteered to investigate that he was caned to death on Wu Zetian’s orders.
Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, and Wu Zetian pub- Compare Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 207, with Book of Tang,
licly agreed, but then sent Song out of the capital to in- vol. 86 [3] and New Book of Tang, vol. 81.[4] The Book
vestigate Qutu Zhongxiang (屈突仲翔) the commandant of Tang, meanwhile, inconsistently asserted in the
at You Prefecture (幽州, roughly modern Beijing), giving chronicles of Wu Zetian’s reign that he was forced
the case instead to the minister of ceremonies, Cui Shen- to commit suicide. See Book of Tang, vol. 6.[5] The
qing (崔神慶), who knew that she wanted them spared, chronicles of Wu Zetian’s reign in the New Book of
and therefore cleared them. Tang merely stated that the three of them "were
killed." See New Book of Tang, vol. 4.[6]
Death [5] However, some modern historians, based on the
text on Li Xianhui’s tombstone (written after
By early 705, Wu Zetian was seriously ill, and the chan- Emperor Zhongzong was restored to the throne in
cellor Zhang Jianzhi, believing that the Zhangs’ power 705), which suggested that she died the day after
threatened Li Xian’s succession, entered into a coup plot her brother and her husband and that she was
with the other officials Cui Xuanwei, Jing Hui, Huan Yan- pregnant at death, and the fact that the skeleton
fan, and Yuan Shuji. They rose on February 20 and went believed to be hers had a small pelvis, have
to see Li Xian and, after receiving his assent, took their proposed the theory that she was not ordered to
forces into the palace and killed Zhang Yizhi and Zhang commit suicide, but had, in grief over her brother’s
Changzong at Yingxian Courtyard (迎仙院); their broth- and husband’s deaths, had either a miscarriage or a
ers Zhang Changqi, Zhang Tongxiu, and Zhang Changyi difficult birth and died from that. See, e.g.,
were also killed, and the five men’s heads were hung at illustrations preceding the Bo Yang Edition of the
Tianjin Bridge (天津橋), one of the entries to Luoyang. Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 49. It may be notable that the
The officials then forced Wu Zetian to yield the throne Chinese Wikipedia article for Li Xianhui gave the
to Li Xian (as Emperor Zhongzong), ending Zhou Dynasty text for her tombstone, but did not give an
and restoring Tang Dynasty. external link corroborating the text in the article.
In 750, during the reign of Wu Zetian’s grandson Em- • Book of Tang, vol. 78.[7]
peror Xuanzong, Zhang Changqi’s daughter submitted a • New Book of Tang, vol. 104.[8]
petition defending her father and uncles. With assistance • Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 206, 207.
by her cousin, the chancellor Yang Guozhong (whose Persondata
mother was a sister of the Zhang brothers’), her petition
Name Zhang, Yizhi
was accepted by Emperor Xuanzong, and he posthu-
mously restored the Zhang brothers’ titles. Alternative names
Short description Tang dynasty politician
Notes and references Date of birth
[1] 兩千年中西曆轉換 Place of birth
[2] Both the New Book of Tang and the Zizhi Tongjian Date of death 705
stated that Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong had
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Zhang Yizhi
Place of death
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zhang_Yizhi&oldid=461754150"
Categories:
• Tang Dynasty politicians
• 705 deaths
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