[Zhang Chengshi, Zhang DianChang Hsüzi Bogao] (b Wunjunwu [now Suzhou, Jiangsu Province] or Wuxing [now Huzhou, Zhejiang Province], fl. early 8th century). Chinese calligrapher, poet, scholar, and government official. He graduated from being a minor official in Changshu to the senior post of Zuoshuaifu Changshi, which earned him the nickname 'Zhang Changshi.' He was adept at writing poems, especially in qijue (a four-line verse with seven characters to a line and following a strict tonal pattern and rhyme scheme). As a poet he was equally as famous as He Zhizhang (659–755), Bao Rong, and Zhang Ruoxu, which earned them the title of Wuzhong sijia (Four Scholars of the Wu Area). He was friendly with He Zhizhang and Li Bai (701–762) and associated with Gao Shi, Li Qi, and Yan Zhenqing. It is as a calligrapher that Zhang is best remembered. He had a good command of kaishu (regular script), which he imparted to Cui Miao and Yan Zhenqing. Yan said that his kaishu was so detailed and penetrating that it could be considered as truth and the correct Way. His uninhibited ...