Sui and Tang · Named Individual

Zhang Shi 張奭

Attested AD 743

Passages: 3
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Zhang Shi was a Named Individual.

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 743 天寶二年春
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 117, passages 19, 24

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Child of Zhang Yi (張倚)
son 男 · paternal line
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 117, passage 19

Places and affiliations

Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
Strongly inferred · Old Book of Tang 117, passage 19

Events and relationships

Ranked first among sixty four
AD 743 天寶二年春 · Examination · Candidate
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 117, passage 19
Wrote nothing all day
AD 743 天寶二年 · Examination · Candidate · Outcome Called dragging a blank
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 117, passage 24

Assessments and attributes

Assessment barely literate / did not read books · Mode public-opinion
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 117, passage 20

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 117, passage 19

References in the histories

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 117Volume 113 Biographies 63: Miao Jingqing, Pei Mian, Pei Zunqing · 3 passages

天寶二年春，御史中丞張倚男奭參選，晉卿與遙以倚初承恩，欲悅附之，考選人判等凡六十四人，分甲乙丙科，奭在其首。 In the spring of Tianbao 2 (743), Zhang Yi's son Shi sat for the examinations. Jingqing and Yao, wishing to curry favor with Yi, who had only recently risen in the emperor's grace, ranked sixty-four candidates in three grades—and placed Shi at the top.

眾知奭不讀書，論議紛然。 Everyone knew that Shi was barely literate, and public outcry spread.

而奭手持試紙，竟日不下一字，時謂之「曳白」。 Shi, holding his examination paper, could not write a single character all day long—people at the time called it 'dragging a blank sheet.'