Zhang Da'an (張大安) (died 684) was an official of the Chinese

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, serving as a

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

during the reign of Emperor Gaozong. Zhang Da'an was one of the sons of Zhang Gongjin (張公謹), a key follower of

Li Shimin Emperor Taizong of Tang (28January 59810July 649), previously Prince of Qin, personal name Li Shimin, was the second Emperor of China, emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649. He is traditionally regarded as a co-founder ...

(the eventual Emperor Taizong) the Prince of Qin, a son and major general of Tang's founder Emperor Gaozu, who supported Li Shimin in his rivalry with his brother Li Jiancheng the

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, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

. When Li Shimin feared that Li Jiancheng was about to kill him in 626, Zhang Gongjin was a major proponent of launching a preemptive strike against Li Jiancheng and another brother who supported Li Jiancheng,

Li Yuanji Li Yuanji ( Chinese: 李元吉, Pinyin: Lǐ Yuánjí) (603 – 2 July 626), formally Prince La of Chao (巢剌王), more commonly known by the title of Prince of Qi (齊王), nickname Sanhu (三胡), was an imperial prince of the Chinese Tang dy ...

the Prince of Qi, and when Li Shimin did so (in an incident known as the

Incident at Xuanwu Gate The Xuanwu Gate Incident was a palace coup for the throne of the Tang dynasty on 2 July of 626, when Prince Li Shimin (Prince of Qin) and his followers assassinated his brothers Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Prince Li Yuanji (Prince of Qi). Li Sh ...

), Zhang defended Li Shimin's mansion against counterattacks by Li Jiancheng's and Li Yuanji's followers after Li Shimin killed Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji. Zhang Gongjin died in 632 at the age of 38 and was eventually posthumously created the Duke of Tan and honored in one of the Portraits at Lingyan Pavilion, reserved for the greatest contributors to Emperor Taizong's reign. It is not known when Zhang Da'an himself was born, but it is known that he had at least two older brothers, Zhang Daxiang (張大象) and Zhang Dasu (張大素). Less is known about Zhang Da'an's career than his father's. By 677, he was serving on the staff of Li Xian, the crown prince of Emperor Gaozong (Emperor Taizong's son), when he was given the designation ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin'' (同中書門下三品), making him a chancellor ''de facto''. He and another staff member, Liu Nayan (劉訥言), were key contributors in a project led by Li Xian in writing commentaries for the ''

Book of Later Han The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Late ...

'', the official history of the

Eastern Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

. In 680, Li Xian, who had lost the favor of Emperor Gaozong's powerful wife Empress Wu (later known as Wu Zetian), was accused of plotting treason, deposed, and exiled. Most of the staff members were pardoned, but Liu was exiled, and Zhang was also accused of flattering the former crown prince and demoted to the post of Pu Prefecture (普州, roughly modern

Ziyang Ziyang ( zh, s=资阳 , t=資陽 , p=Zīyáng , w=Tzu-yang) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Sichuan province, China. It is bordered by the provincial capital of Chengdu to the northwest, Deyang to the north, Suining to the northeast, Chong ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

). He died in 684, while serving as the military advisor to the prefect of Heng Prefecture (橫州, roughly modern

Nanning Nanning; is the capital of the Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China, southern China. It is known as the "Green City (绿城) " because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South of Guangxi, Nanning ...

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

References

* ''

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 ...

'', vol. 68. * ''

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 ...

'', vol. 89. * ''

Zizhi Tongjian The ''Zizhi Tongjian'' (1084) is a chronicle published during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) that provides a record of Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynasties and spanning almost 1400 years. The main text is ...

'', vol. 202. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang Daan Chancellors under Emperor Gaozong of Tang 684 deaths Year of birth unknown