Zhang Zhupo

Zhang Zhupo (simplified Chinese: 张竹坡; traditional Chinese: 張竹坡; Wade–Giles: Chang Chu-p'o; 1670–1698) alt. name Daoshen 道深, courtesy name Zide 自得, was an early Qing dynasty literary critic, commentator, and editor of fiction best known for his commentarial edition of the novel The Plum in the Golden Vase (Jin Ping Mei).

A native of Tongshan 銅山 (present day Xuzhou) in Jiangsu province, Zhang came from a family with no connections and little detail is known of his life. At the age of 26, bitter at having failed the local examinations five times, Zhang turned to the task of editing and commenting on Jin Ping Mei. He was inspired by the example of the late-Ming dynasty writer and critic Feng Menglong in pursuing publishing and editing as an alternative to an official career, and persuaded by Feng's opinion that Jin Ping Mei was the Diyi Qishu (First Masterpiece).

Zhang died at the age of twenty-nine.

Zhang's Diyi Qishu ("First Masterpiece") 1659 edition of Jin Ping Mei soon became the standard and most widely read version of the novel. Zhang is often grouped with Mao Zonggang and Jin Shengtan as commentators and editors. Mao's commentarial edition of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Jin's of Water Margin featured dufa (讀法 lit. "way to read" or "how to read") which interpreted the novels using a vocabulary and critical standards which up to then had been limited to poetry and painting. This innovation raised the status of fiction for Chinese readers and made the writing of fiction into a respectable activity for educated people. In order to give their work credibility, Mao and Jin claimed to be "transmitting" long-lost editions which they had come across and did not inform readers that they themselves had extensively rewritten the text or reworked the structure of the novel. Zhang, however, simply used a text of Jin Ping Mei published during the reign of Chongzhen Emperor (1611-1644), which unfortunately had been extensively cut and rewritten from earlier and better texts closer to the author's intention. Zhang's 1659 edition was something of a bestseller and it was reprinted several times in spite of being placed on the list of pornographic books specifically banned by the Kangxi Emperor. The earlier editions became almost unknown until they were rediscovered in the first part of twentieth century.

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