王章 / Wang Zhang (Western Han)

Overview

王章 / Wang Zhang enters the wiki through Hanji 544 as the Jingzhao Yin remembered as plain and upright, then killed after criticizing 王凤. In this source, his death is less a full biography than a signal event: punished direct speech makes the whole court afraid to speak.

Current Profile

The episode uses Wang Zhang as the concrete case behind 梅福’s memorial. Wang Zhang had a reputation for frugality and uprightness, and his criticism of Wang Feng made him politically exposed. Once Wang Feng has him killed, other officials fall silent.

Wang Zhang therefore functions as a negative remonstrance precedent. His death shows how the removal of one critic can damage more than one career: it teaches everyone nearby that honest correction may be fatal, and it gives Mei Fu grounds to warn Chengdi that blocking speech lets outer-relative power grow without correction.

Key Characteristics

• Western Han official presented as plain, loyal, and upright.
• Criticizes Wang Feng and becomes the episode’s punished-speaker case.
• His death produces a wider silence among officials.
• Serves as the immediate trigger for Mei Fu’s warning to Chengdi.

Evidence

• Character and office: Hanji 544 describes Wang Zhang as a plain and upright Jingzhao Yin.
• Punished criticism: Hanji 544 says Wang Zhang had mocked or criticized Wang Feng and was later killed by him.
• Feedback consequence: Hanji 544 says the court did not dare speak after the death.

Qualifications

This page is bounded to Hanji 544 and does not resolve Wang Zhang’s full prosecution record, precise charges, biography, or the complete Wang-family factional context.

What Changed

• Created the page from Hanji 544’s Wang Zhang death and remonstrance-suppression role.

Relationships

• 王凤 - powerful target of Wang Zhang’s criticism and the source’s agent of his death.
• 梅福 - memorialist who uses Wang Zhang’s death as a warning.
• 汉成帝 - ruler whose court becomes silent after Wang Zhang is killed.
• 君臣反馈失灵 - wider failure pattern illustrated by the silencing effect.
• 纳谏转政策式治理 - positive contrast because Wang Zhang’s death shows what happens when criticism is not protected.