Zhang Jianzhi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zhang Jiangzhi (張柬之) (625 - 706), was a Chancellor. He was born in north-west Hubei. He became an official after he became the first in the civil service examination. He was an official in Guangdong and Chongqing. Then he was recommended by Di Renji to enter the court.

Shortly after he became chancellor in January 705, along with important ministers such as Yao Chong, Jing Hui (敬暉), Yuan Shuyi (袁恕己) and Run Xianfan (桓彥范), he led and engineered a coup d'etat against Empress Wu with the help of Li Duoja (右羽林大將軍李多祚), killed the Zhang brothers (officials in power), forced the empress to give up her throne and restored Emperor Zhongzong as emperor of Tang Dynasty, marking the end of the short lived Zhou Dynasty. Because of power-fighting and because he oppose Empress Wei, he was dismissed by the court in late 705. He died with heart disease because of anger and disappointment in 706 while in exile in Xinzhou.