Zhang Jiafu (張嘉福) (died July 25, 710) was a Chinese politician of the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

and

Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right. From 665 to 690, she was first empres ...

's Zhou Dynasty, briefly serving as

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

during the reign of Emperor Shang. Despite Zhang's high status, little is firmly established about his career except for the time that he served as chancellor—as, unusual for a chancellor, he did not have a biography in either the ''

Old Book of Tang The ''Old Book of Tang'', or simply the ''Book of Tang'', is the first classic historical work about the Tang dynasty, comprising 200 chapters, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories. Originally compiled during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

'' or the ''

New Book of Tang The ''New Book of Tang'', generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the So ...

''. He was not even included among the chancellors of the Zhang clan in the table of the chancellors' family trees in the ''New Book of Tang''.''New Book of Tang'', vol. 72, part 3
As of 691, during Wu Zetian's reign, Zhang Jiafu was serving as ''Fengge Sheren'' (鳳閣舍人), a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government (鳳閣, ''Fengge''), when he was involved in instigating a petition drive led by Wang Qingzhi (王慶之) to persuade Wu Zetian to make her nephew

Wu Chengsi Wu Chengsi (Chinese: 武承嗣; Pinyin: Wǔ Chéngsì) (died July 22, 698), formally Prince Xuan of Wei (魏宣王), was a nephew of the Chinese sovereign Wu Zetian and an imperial prince of the Wu Zhou dynasty. He participated in her planning in t ...

the Prince of Wei

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...

to displace her son Li Dan, who was emperor from 684 to 690 until Wu Zetian took the throne herself. The petition drive initially got Wu Zetian's attention, and the chancellors

Cen Changqian Cen Changqian (; died November 7, 691), briefly known as Wu Changqian (武長倩) during the reign of Wu Zetian, formally the Duke of Deng (鄧公), was a Chinese military general and politician of the Tang and Wu Zhou dynasties of China, serving ...

and

Ge Fuyuan Ge Fuyuan (格輔元; died November 7, 691) was a Chinese politician of the Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, serving briefly as a chancellor during Wu Zetian's reign. It is not known when Ge Fuyuan was born, but it is known that he was fr ...

were executed for vehemently opposing it. However, she never made Wu Chengsi crown prince, and after Wang was killed by the official

Li Zhaode Li Zhaode (李昭德) (died April 28, 697) was a Chinese politician in Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty and at one point served as chancellor. He was known for his abilities and strong will, which eventually led to a conflict with Wu Zetian's secret police ...

later in the year, the petition drive dissipated. Zhang's activities for the next two decades are lost to history. As of 710, another son of Wu Zetian's, Li Xian, was emperor (as Emperor Zhongzong). That year, however, Emperor Zhongzong died suddenly—a death that traditional historians believed to be a poisoning carried out by Emperor Zhongzong's wife Empress Wei and daughter Li Guo'er the

Princess Anle Princess Anle (; 684? – 21 July 710), personal name Li Guo'er (), was a Chinese princess of the Tang Dynasty. She was the youngest daughter of Emperor Zhongzong and his wife Empress Wei. Popular history holds that she was doted upon heavily by ...

, so that Empress Wei could become "emperor" like Wu Zetian, and Princess Anle could become crown princess. Empress Wei did not immediately announce Emperor Zhongzong's death, and she carried out a number of moves intended to consolidate her power over the government. As a part of these moves, Zhang, who was then the minister of civil service affairs (吏部尚書, ''Libu Shangshu''), was given the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' (同中書門下平章事), making him a chancellor ''de facto''. Soon, Emperor Zhongzong's son by a

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

, Li Chongmao the Prince of Wen, was named emperor (as Emperor Shang), but Empress Wei retained power as

empress dowager Empress dowager (also dowager empress or empress mother) () is the English language translation of the title given to the mother or widow of a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese emperor in the Chinese cultural sphere. The title was also g ...

and

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

. She sent a number of her associates to survey the circuits to make sure that no one would dare rise against her, and Zhang was sent to survey Hebei Circuit (河北道, roughly modern

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, and

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

). After Zhang left the capital

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...

, a coup led by Emperor Zhongzong's sister

Princess Taiping Princess Taiping (, lit. "Princess of Great Peace", personal name unknown, possibly Li Lingyue (李令月)) (after 662 – 2 August 713) was a royal princess and prominent political figure of the Tang dynasty and her mother Wu Zetian's Zhou dynas ...

and nephew

Li Longji Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (; 8 September 685 – 3 May 762), personal name Li Longji, was the seventh emperor of the Tang dynasty in China, reigning from 712 to 756 CE. His reign of 44 years was the longest during the Tang dynasty. In the early ...

the Prince of Linzi killed Empress Wei and Li Guo'er, along with a number of their associates. At that time, Zhang had reached Huai Prefecture (懷州, roughly modern

Jiaozuo Jiaozuo ( ; postal: Tsiaotso) is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Henan province, China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yellow River, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the south, Xinxiang to the east, Jiyuan to the ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

), and was arrested and executed.

Notes and references

* ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...

'', vols. 204,

209 Year 209 ( CCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Lollianus (or, less frequently, year 962 '' Ab urbe cond ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Jiafu Chancellors under Emperor Shang of Tang Year of birth unknown 710 deaths