Zhang Dynasty

Under the help of Wei Keji Zhangyue became a very important role in Tang government and in history of Tang literature. Because of the appraise of the empire Zetian Zhangyue's essays were well known by most of people. But people seemed not to appreciate his poems, so most of people knew his poems very late. Zhangyue occupied the prime minister many times and he had had the power to appoint literary officers for a long time. So he had the chance to be an important role in Tang literature history. But there are some wrong conventional viewpoints which should be corrected.He was a complicated man. So someone like him and someone hate him. He had some admirable merits and had some shortcoming that cannot be tolerated. He did not like to depend on the powerful officers, was very brave in the battle fields, but he was a corruption man and sometimes violated the laws for some private aims. The study is helpful for us to know the real Zhangyue.The reason that he could make an great effect on the politics and culture of Tang is that there was an intellectual group in which he was the center. He gave promotions to a lot of people with his great power. This group made some great contribution on restoring of Confucianism.Zhangyue was neglected by the literature criticize history. In fact his literature viewpoints were important to the later literature ideal. He paid attention to the structure, words and content of a literature work. Even though his works had not met these needs, his essays had made an great influence at that time and his poems was crucial on the development history of Tang poems.