Sui and Tang · Official

Zhang Shi 張奭

Attested AD 743

Passages: 3
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Zhang Shi was an official.

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 743 天寶二年
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 140, passages 29, 31

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Child of Zhang Yi (張倚)
son 子
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 140, passage 30

Places and affiliations

Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 140, passage 29

Events and relationships

Ranked first then submitted blank at Huae
AD 743 天寶二年 · Examination · Candidate · At Hua'e Tower 花萼樓
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 140, passages 29, 31

Assessments and attributes

Assessment utterly without learning · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 140, passage 30

Source notes

people called it dragging the blank (曳白)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 140, passage 31

References in the histories

New Book of Tang, Chapter 140Volume 140 Biographies 65: Cui Miao, Two Pei's, Lu · 3 passages

天寶二年，判入等者凡六十四人，分甲、乙、丙三科，以張奭為第一。 In the second year of Tianbao, sixty-four candidates were judged to have passed, divided into three grades—A, B, and C—with Zhang Shi placed first.

奭，御史中丞倚之子，倚新得幸於帝，晉卿欲附之，奭本無學，故議者囂然不平。 Shi was the son of censor-in-chief Zhang Yi, who had newly won the emperor's favor; Jinqing wished to curry favor with him, but Shi was utterly without learning, and critics erupted in outrage.

安祿山因間言之，帝為禦花萼樓覆實，中裁十一二，奭持紙終日，筆不下，人謂之「曳白」。 An Lushan seized the chance to bring it up; the emperor held a verification at the Hua'e Tower, and more than nine-tenths failed; Shi held his examination paper all day without setting brush to paper—people called it "dragging the blank."