He Zhizhang贺知章（附）

Style & Daoist names

Jizhen, Madman of Siming (Siming Kuangke), Auxiliary Director of the Palace Library

Period

Tang

Dates

659 — 744

Role

PoetOfficialDaoshi (Daoist Priest)

Birthplace

Yongxing, Yuezhou (present-day Xiaoshan, Zhejiang)

Life

He Zhizhang, courtesy name Jizhen, in his later years styled himself "Mad Guest of Siming," was a Tang-dynasty poet who placed first in the palace examination in the first year of Zhengsheng (695) under Empress Wu, and rose to the offices of Director of the Palace Library and Advisor to the Crown Prince. In the third year of Tianbao (744), suffering from illness and confusion, he petitioned to be ordained a Daoist priest and return to his native place; Xuanzong granted his request, bestowed on him a stretch of Jing Lake and the Shan River, and named his residence the "Qianqiu Abbey" (Abbey of a Thousand Autumns). The crown prince led the assembled officials to see him off at the eastern gate of Chang'an, and Li Bai wrote the poem "Seeing Off Attendant He on His Return to Yue." When He Zhizhang first met Li Bai he hailed him as a "Banished Immortal," and the two were later counted among the "Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup"; He Zhizhang was also listed, together with Sima Chengzhen, Li Bai, and others, among the "Ten Friends of the Immortal Lineage." He died in the same year he returned home. He Zhizhang's ordination in his old age is a celebrated example of the relationship between Tang scholar-officials and Daoism, and his poem "Written by Chance on Returning Home" is widely known and recited. This entry is included as an appendix.

Contributions & Influence

• Requested ordination as a Daoist priest while holding high office, a representative case of Tang scholar-officials' devotion to Daoism
• Recognized and promoted Li Bai, and was closely connected with Daoist literary circles

Works

• Poems of He Zhizhang (nineteen preserved in the Complete Tang Poems)