Zhang Liang is remembered in public life for work that changed what came after it.
The record lists Zhang Liang as Chinese statesman.
Zhang Liang was born in -261. His recorded nationality is Han dynasty.
Authority in this period rested on lineage, force and religious sanction; there were no electorates to answer to and few records kept by anyone but the victors.
He is described as civil servant.
The test of a public life is what remained possible afterwards that had not been possible before.
That the career was made in Han dynasty is not incidental: the institutions available, the franchise, and the constraints of the moment all shaped what could be attempted.
Zhang Liang died in -185, aged 76. The assessment continues, as it does for anyone who held power - which is the ordinary fate of a political life.
