Zhao Juzhen was a

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

politician who served during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. He was the founder of Huating County, the first county-level division in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

Life

Zhao was born in

Dingzhou Dingzhou, or Tingchow in Postal Map Romanization, and formerly called Ding County or Dingxian, is a county-level city in the prefecture-level city of Baoding, Hebei Province. As of 2009, Dingzhou had a population of 1.2 million. Dingzhou has 3 ...

. He was a member of the Zhao clan of Tianshui and a descendant of King Jia of Dai. His grandfather Baofu, father Buqi and brother Dongxi were scholar-officials in the imperial court. In 713, Zhao was exceptionally promoted to a higher rank due to his literary talents. He then worked at the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

. In 751, Zhao was the governor of Wu Commandery. He made a petition of establishing a county between

Kunshan Kunshan is a county-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province with Shanghai bordering its eastern border and Suzhou on its western boundary. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Suzhou. Name There is a strong p ...

Jiaxing Jiaxing (), alternately romanized as Kashing, is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province, China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the p ...

and Haiyan named Huating. His plan was approved by the imperial court and Huating county was formally established. The county was the first independent administrative division in the area of today's Shanghai. In 752, he served as the governor of Beihai Commandery and left his only recorded poem in Beihai. In Beihai, Zhao held the

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...

ritual of Toulong. He prayed for the wellbeing of Emperor Xuanzong.

References

{{reflist Tang dynasty politicians from Hebei