Zhang Yucai张与材

Style & Daoist names

courtesy name Guoliang, sobriquet Guangweizi, 38th-Generation Celestial Master, Patriarch of Zhengyi

Period

Yuan

Dates

? — 1316

School

Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism

Role

Celestial MasterPatriarch of ZhengyiPainter

Birthplace

Xinzhou Guixi (present-day Guixi, Jiangxi)

Places of activity

Mount Longhu (Dragon and Tiger Mountain)

Life

Zhang Yucai, the thirty-eighth Celestial Master of Mount Longhu, was the second son of Zhang Zongyan. He succeeded his elder brother Zhang Yudi as head of the order in 1294, and in the eighth year of the Dade era of Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (1304) was granted the additional title "Head of the Zhengyi Order, Overseer of the Talismans and Registers of the Three Mountains" (Zhengyi jiaozhu, zhuling sanshan fulu), formally confirming that the Celestial Masters of Mount Longhu governed the talismanic traditions of the Three Mountains — Longhu, Maoshan, and Gezao — and the name "Zhengyi Dao" was thereby formally fixed, becoming one of the two great Daoist orders alongside Quanzhen. Under Emperor Wuzong he was further granted the ranks of Golden and Purple Grand Master for Splendid Happiness and Duke of Liu. Zhang Yucai was skilled at painting dragons and ink bamboo, and was a noted Daoist painter of the Yuan. He died in 1316 and was succeeded by his son Zhang Sicheng. Yuan-dynasty literati such as Yu Ji and Zhao Mengfu exchanged poems with him on many occasions; by the mid-Yuan the house of the Celestial Masters of Mount Longhu had become an eminent lineage combining religious, political, and cultural standing.

Contributions & Influence

• Received the title "Head of the Zhengyi Order, Overseer of the Talismans and Registers of the Three Mountains," marking the formal formation of Zhengyi Daoism
• Renowned for painting and calligraphy, a representative Daoist painter of the Yuan
• Associated with Yuan-dynasty literati, raising the cultural standing of the Celestial Master lineage