Zhang And His Works

As an important politician and litterateur in the early Western Jin Dynasty, Zhang Hua made illustrious achievements in both the political and academic field. He participated in conquering Wu Kingdom, resisting the invasion of neighboring countries, stabilizing the political situation, etc. He wrote many poems, proses and other articles as well as compiled Record of Natural History. Zhang Hua's erudition had a great influence in both his writing and promotion. His integrity gave him the courage to advise the governors against great resistance. Zhang Hua is so cautious that he gave priority to peace of the country while dealing with all the political affairs and he made good balance of the terseness and literary grace in writing. He advocated creation on the basis of inheriting.Zhang Hua's poems and proses show different styles according to their themes and types. Some are grand and heroic while some are delicate and affecting. The excellence of his poems is concinnity and delicacy while the flaw is that his poems lack vigor and sometimes display vapidity. His proses seem to be more profound than his poems. Other articles of Zhang Hua are both succinct and flowery, providing readers with aesthetic feeling and clear thoughts. Record of Natural History collects knowledge of various subjects and anecdotes, offering abundant useful materials for the research of Chinese classic culture. This geo-naturalistic fiction has certain value in the novel history of China.Though there is not enough historical data to prove the existence of Zhang Hua's literary group in the Western Jin Dynasty, Zhang Hua made great contribution to discovering and recommending the talents. He advocated that one should emphasize the expressing of emotion while paying attention to the diction. He attached importance to both terseness and literary grace in writing. He also regarded the melody of articles greatly. His literary thoughts had some impact on the litterateurs of that time such as Lu Ji. So Zhang Hua was an important person in the literary history of the early Western Jin Dynasty since he had such high status in politics and great achievements in literature.