Chang Kao—Noteworthy T'ang Taoist?

Abstract

Chang is not listed in general biographical reference works, either Chinese or Western. Nor is there a biography of him in either of the T'ang standard histories. The latter fact is not in itself indicative of minimal historical significance: on occasion, a truly noteworthy T'ang Taoist is omitted from the official histories.(3) Yet, in the numerous collections of biographical materials preserved in the Tao-tsang, one finds only two brief treatments of Chang's life, and those in fact date only from the Yuan and Ming periods. Moreover, in the remaining literature of local histories and other pertinent sources, one finds no biographies of Chang Kao at all. (4) One begins to wonder whether Chang was actually a meaningful figure in T'ang Taoism. After all, several T'ang Taoists were the subjects of more than a dozen biographical accounts, and one--Ssu-ma Ch'engchen (646-735)--is immortalized in more than forty accounts in both Taoist and non-Taoist materials.(5)