Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Chang Chao
CHANG Chao 張照 (T. 得天, H. 涇南, 天瓶) 1691–1745, Feb. 19, official, painter, and calligrapher, was a native of Lou-hsien, Kiangsu. He took his chin-shih degree in 1709, became a corrector in the Hanlin Academy (1712), and served (1715) in the Imperial Study (see under Chang Ying). After filling various posts, such as junior deputy supervisor of instruction (1723) and chief examiner in the Yunnan provincial examination (1726), he was appointed (1731) sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat. Early in 1733 he was made senior vice-president of the Board of Punishments, a few months later president of the Censorate, and in the following year president of the Board of Punishments. At the time of the insurrection of the Miao in Kweichow in the summer of 1735, he volunteered to pacify those tribes and, before setting out, was granted the title of Fu-ting Miao-chiang Ta-Ch'ên (撫定苗疆大臣). But owing to his lack of cooperation with General Ha Yüan-shêng [q. v.] and to the failure of the enterprise as a whole he was dismissed and imprisoned and the task of pacifying the Miao was entrusted to Chang Kuang-ssŭ [q. v.]. Although sentenced to die (1736), Chang Chao was pardoned by Emperor Kao-tsung, owing, it is said, to their mutual interest in calligraphy. In 1737 Chang was reinstated in his post as sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat and was ordered to serve in the Imperial Study. In 1740 he was made vice-president of the Board of Punishments and in the following year he and the Manchu prince, Yin-lu [q. v.], were commanded to re-examine and enlarge the 律呂正義 Lü-lü chêng-i, a work on ceremonial music in 5 chüan which was ordered to be compiled in 1713, and was printed in 1724. The result was a much more extensive work in 120 chüan entitled Lü-lü chêng-i hou-pien (後編), printed in 1746, a supplement in 8 chüan being added in 1789. In 1742 Chang Chao was installed as president of the Board of Punishments and was concurrently in charge of the Office of State Music. Early in 1745, when on the way to attend the funeral of his father, he took ill and died in Hsü-chou, Kiangsu. He was canonized as Wên-min 文敏.
Chang Chao was skilled in many forms of calligraphy, but preferred to follow the styles set by Tung Ch'i-ch'ang [q. v.]. His penmanship was so like that of Emperor Kao-tsung that he is reported to have written many of the documents and scripts attributed to that emperor in the early years of his reign. Some specimens of Chang Chao's calligraphic skill appear in an album, entitled 天瓶齋帖 T'ien-p'ing chai t'ieh, and others are preserved in the Palace Museum, Peiping. A collection of colophons he wrote, entitled T'ien-p'ing chai shu hua t'i-pa 書畫題跋, 2 chüan, was printed in 1773, and was reprinted, with a supplement, in the collectanea, 內子叢編 Ping-tzǔ ts'ung-pien of 1936.
As an artist, Chang Chao excelled in various fields, particularly in the painting of plum blossoms. He is listed first among the compilers of the 石渠寶笈 Shih-ch'ü pao-chi and the 秘殿珠林 Pi-tien chu-lin, two well-known catalogues of paintings and specimens of calligraphy that are preserved in the various halls of the Palace. The former, a work in 44 chüan was commissioned in 1744, completed in 1745, and first printed in 1918. One supplement of 88 chüan was ordered to be compiled in 1793, another of 108 chüan in 1817. The Pi-tien chu-lin, a catalogue in 24 chüan of paintings and examples of calligraphy by Buddhist and Taoist priests, was ordered to be compiled in January 1744 and was completed in the summer of that year. It, too, was recently printed. One supplement of 8 chüan was ordered in 1793, another of 4 chüan in 1517. The original manuscripts of these works are preserved in the Palace Museum, Peiping. Chang Chao was well known as a poet, and many of his verses appear in albums of his calligraphy. Those he composed while in prison, entitled 白雲亭詩卷 Pai-yün t'ing shih-chüan, owing to their resentful tone against the state and against Ô-êr-t'ai [q. v.] whom he suspected of having been responsible for his imprisonment, were destroyed by official command in 1759. His collected poems were printed under the title, 得天居士集 Tê-t'ien chü-shih chi, 6 chüan by his grandnephew, Chang Hsiang-ho 張祥河 (T. 詩舲, posthumous name 温和, 1785–1862), who was a chin-shih of 1820 and rose to the post of president of the Board of Works (1859–1861). Chang Chao was also gifted in the drama and in music. He adapted, by imperial order, a number of old stories and plays for which he wrote musical scores. His lyric dramas, entitled: 月令承應, Yüeh-ling Ch'êng-ying; 法宮雅奏 Fa-kung ya-tsou; 九九大慶 Chiu-chiu ta-ch'ing; 勸善金科 Ch'üan-shan chin-k'o; and 昇平寶筏 Shêng-p'ing pao fa, were frequently performed inside the palace until the close of the Ch'ing dynasty. Many of his musical scores for the drama are cited as examples of different types of music in the compendium, 九宮大成南北詞宮譜 Chiu-kung ta-ch'êng nan pei tz'ǔ kung-p'u, which was commissioned in 1744 and printed in 1746 in 81 chüan. Chang Chao was much influenced by Buddhism and his writings are colored by it, both in thought and in phraseology.
[1/310/1a; 3/71/5a; 9/24/18b; 20/2/00; 29/3/9a; Lou-hsien chih (1788) 26/1a; L.T.C.L.H.M., p. 273; 內務府古物陳列所書畫目錄 Nei-wu fu ku-wu ch'ên-lieh-so shu-hua mu-lu (1925) 1/22a, 3/3b, 15a, 13/48b, 49b, 51b, 附卷, 1/4b; Ssŭ-k'u (see under Chi Yün) 38/6b, 113/5b; Shih-ch'ü pao-chi (1918) 3/53a, 11/17a, 12/5a, 20/42b, 20/56a, 22/56a 59a; Chiu-kung ta-ch'êng nan-pei tz'ǔ kung-p'u' (1923), introduction by Wu Mei 吳梅 2b; T'oung Pao (1920–21) p. 233; Yü Shao-sung (see under bibl. of An Ch'i), Shu-hua shu-lu chieh-t'i (1932) 5/10a.]
Li Man-kuei