Tang Du Mu Poem To Zhang Haohao: Artwork, Context and a Viewing Guide

Dark characters descend in uneven columns, with red seals appearing beside and between the writing. The opening records circumstances before turning to verse. This Chinese calligraphy guide reads the preface first, then follows the poem’s changing scene and the brushwork visible in the manuscript’s opening.

The Original Beijing Handscroll

The Palace Museum records a paper scroll measuring 28.2 × 162 cm, collection number 新00044431. It is regarded as Du Mu’s only surviving original ink work.^[1] That rarity concerns handwriting, not the survival of his poetry in books.

An exhibition entry dates the poem and preface to 835 and places the manuscript’s writing somewhat later.^[2] The year 829 within the preface refers to an earlier episode in the story. Neither that opening date nor a date assigned to the poem should automatically become an exact date for the physical scroll.

The scroll-formats guide helps place the object’s long horizontal shape. Its text is read down each column, proceeding from the right toward the left. A reproduction of the opening shows only part of that progression; it should not be mistaken for the whole manuscript.

What the Preface Says About Zhang Haohao

The preface begins with Du Mu’s service in Jiangxi under Shen Chuanshi（沈传师，Shěn Chuánshī）. Zhang Haohao was thirteen when her ability in singing and dancing brought her into the registered entertainment establishment. A subsequent move took her to Xuancheng. Later, Shen Shushi（沈述师，Shěn Shùshī）took her into his household. The final episode in the preface is Du’s renewed encounter with her in eastern Luoyang.^[1]

These are distinct stages and people. The two men named Shen should not be collapsed into a single patron, and the preface does not present Zhang as Du Mu’s wife. Its stated reason for the poem is the sorrow stirred by meeting again and remembering the past.

The prose establishes the sequence before the poetry expands particular moments. Read it as the author’s account of the encounter. It is not a complete independent record of Zhang’s life, her private thoughts or everything that happened between the meetings.

From Performance to the Luoyang Reunion

The poem begins by addressing Zhang as a young woman from Yuzhang. Images of a young phoenix and an opening lotus introduce her appearance before the scene widens to an elevated pavilion, river and banquet. The performance unfolds through hesitation, an introduction and the release of her voice.^[1]

Sound becomes an important measure of her skill. Strings and pipes accompany her, yet her singing exceeds the other sounds in the poem’s imagery. The host repeatedly praises her and gives gifts. This is a public scene: performer, patron, introducer and assembled guests occupy different positions within it.

The following passages shift to travel and a new household setting, with gifts, a carriage and the distant sound of water. That change of place separates the remembered performance from the later meeting.

In Luoyang, Zhang appears serving wine. Questions about prematurely white hair, old companions and difficult circumstances bring the past into the present. The scene no longer centres on applause or gifts. With declining willows, slanting sunlight and cool air, the ending turns toward tears and the act of writing.^[1]

This movement gives the work its emotional shape. The youthful performance occupies the remembered past; the reunion makes the distance from it felt. The Tang-poetry guide offers a broader setting for reading such combinations of personal encounter, memory and public life.

Looking at the Opening Calligraphy

At the right of the opening image, the work’s heading precedes the prose. The first columns then move through the dated recollection. Compare the comparatively small introductory characters with larger forms elsewhere in the same visible passage. The writing does not maintain a uniform printed size.

Within the columns, some strokes gather into dark, compact forms; others extend more thinly or sweep outward. The spaces between characters also change. A broad stroke may approach the next column, while a narrower character leaves a more open interval beside it. These variations make the passage worth studying even before every character can be read.

Use the transcription alongside the image to locate the prose-to-poem transition. The calligraphy-reading guide can help separate the work of following the words from comparing their visual forms. The image establishes visible differences in ink and spacing; those differences do not by themselves reveal the writer’s exact speed or emotional state.

The Collected Scroll and Later Versions

The scroll includes a title associated with Emperor Huizong（宋徽宗，Sòng Huīzōng）and numerous later collection seals. It subsequently belonged to Zhang Boju（张伯驹，Zhāng Bójū）, who donated it to the government in 1956.^[1] These later interventions belong to the object’s transmission, not to the original scene described in the poem.

There are also engraved modelbook versions. A Taipei example appears in the Modelbooks of the Studio of Wonderful Ink（墨妙轩法帖，Mòmiàoxuān fǎtiè）.^[3] A modelbook can preserve a version of the text and calligraphic forms while remaining a different object from the Beijing ink manuscript. Check that distinction before transferring a reproduction’s catalog information to the original scroll.

FAQs About Poem to Zhang Haohao

Is this a poem written by Zhang Haohao?

No. Du Mu wrote it for her.^[1]

Is it Du Mu’s only surviving poem?

No. Its exceptional status concerns his surviving original handwriting.^[1]

Are later modelbook versions the original manuscript?

No. Engraved modelbooks are separate objects.^[3]

資料來源

[1] Xiao Yanyi, Palace Museum, Beijing. Du Mu: Poem to Zhang Haohao, Collection Entry, Preface and Poem

[2] Shanghai Museum. Du Mu: Poem to Zhang Haohao, Exhibition Entry

[3] National Palace Museum. Imperial Engraved Modelbooks of the Studio of Wonderful Ink, Volume Two: Zhang Haohao’s Poem and Preface