He Zhizhang (贺知章 Hè Zhīzhāng, ca. 659–744), courtesy name Jizhen (季真), was a Chinese poet and politician born in Yongxing, Yue Prefecture (越州永兴, present-day Xiaoshan, Zhejiang) during the Tang dynasty. He entered the civil service after achieving a jinshi degree in 695 during the reign of Empress Regnant Wu Zetian, and continued serving the court under three subsequent emperors Zhongzong, Ruizong, and Xuanzong, serving first in the Imperial Academy (guozijian), and then in the Ministry of Rites and Ministry of Works.

Well regarded for his poetry and calligraphy, he is one of the Tang dynasty's Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup. Only a few of his works have survived. His well-known works include Ode to the Willow (咏柳) and a pair of poems, On Returning Home (回乡偶书). On Returning Home is a wistful and nostalgic work composed by He on his return to his home village at the age of 85, when he was granted retirement by Emperor Xuanzong in 744, just a few months before his death, after almost five decades of service to the imperial court. The first of the pair, "Returning Home As An Unrecognized Old Man," is particularly well-known, having been anthologized in the Three Hundred Tang Poems and appearing in elementary school textbooks in China.《回乡偶书 · 其一》

少小离家老大回，乡音无改鬓毛衰 。

儿童相见不相识 ，笑问客从何处来？

Of his surviving calligraphic works, one is a grass-script copy of the Xiaojing, currently located in Japan, another is an engraved stele (龙瑞宫记) located near Shaoxing, Zhejiang.

贺知章（659年 - 744年），字季真，号石窗，晚年号四明狂客，越州永兴县（今浙江萧山）人，唐朝诗人、书法家、官员，因曾任秘书监，故人称贺监，官至礼部尚书。三国时东吴将领贺齐的十八世孙。贺知章是史料所载的萧山历史上唯一的状元。

贺知章流传下来的诗不多，收录于《全唐诗》中的只有二十首，著名的有《咏柳》、《回乡偶书》等。

Read more...: 生平   图集   儿子   评价   注释   延伸阅读