Wang Changling

Who was Wang Changling?

Wang Changling was a major Tang Dynasty poet. His zi was Shaobo. He was originally from Taiyuan in the Shanxi province of China, according to the editors of the Three Hundred Tang Poems, although other sources claim that he was actually from Jiangning near modern-day Nanjing. After passing the prestigious jinshi examination, he became a secretarial official and later held other imperial positions, including that of an official posting to Sishui, in what is currently Xingyang, in Henan province. Near the end of his life he was appointed as a minister of Jiangning county. He died in the An Lushan Rebellion.

He is best known for his poems describing battles in the frontier regions of western China. Wang Changling was one of the competitors in the famous wine shop competition along with Gao Shi and Wang Zhihuan.