Wu Zhongshi refers to Zhang Ruoxu, He Zhizhang, Zhang Xu and Bao Rong.
In Tang poetry, many schools are divided by poetic content and style, such as frontier poets, landscape poets, pastoral poets, etc. The four scholars in Wu Zhong, on the other hand, called four poets in the same period with the same region. They were all from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.
In ancient times, this area belonged to Wujun, He Zhizhang and Yongji Yongxing (now Xiaoshan County, Zhejiang Province). Zhang Xu, a native of Suzhou Wu (now Suzhou, Jiangsu); Zhang Ruoxu, a native of Yangzhou (now Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province); Bao Rong was born in Yanling, Runzhou (now Danyang City, Jiangsu Province). Therefore, the four were called "Four Scholars of Wu Zhong" by later generations. Their poems are all fresh and graceful, with their own style. Except Bao Rong, all famous poems have been handed down from generation to generation.
Among them, He Zhizhang and Zhang Ruoxu were famous poets at that time, while Zhang Xu was a calligrapher and a poet, and Bao Rong did not preach many poems. Zhang Ruoxu's "Moonlit Night on a Spring River" is the most famous poem. The "Four Scholars" are wild in character, and their poems are mostly romantic, which often reveal some new breath and taste, reflecting the characteristics of the transition of Tang poetry from the early Tang Dynasty to the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
He Zhizhang's experience
He Zhizhang (about 659-744), with the word Jizhen, was a famous poet and calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, Han nationality, and was born in Yongxing, Yuezhou (now Xiaoshan, Zhejiang). When I was young, I was famous for my poems. Wu Zetian was awarded the No.1 prize in B in Shengyuan Year (695), and was awarded Dr. Guozi Simen and moved to Dr. Taichang. Later, he served as assistant minister of rites, secretary supervisor and prince guest.
Being broad-minded and uninhibited, he has the reputation of "talking freely about romantic affairs", especially in his later years, and he has been named "Siming Fanke" and "Secretary's External Supervisor". Returned home at the age of eighty-six. He was a poet in the early Tang Dynasty and a famous calligrapher. Together with Zhang Ruoxu, Zhang Xu and Bao Rong, they are also called "Four Scholars of Wu Zhong". Most of the works are scattered, and there are only twenty left.
He Zhizhang's poems are famous for quatrains. Apart from the movement of offering sacrifices to the gods and poems that should be made, his poems about scenery and expressing feelings are unique in style, fresh and natural. Two famous poems, Chanting Willow and Returning to My Country, are well-known throughout the ages, and most of them are scattered. Up to now, 19 poems have been recorded in Complete Tang Poetry.
above content reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Wu Zhongshi