GGood Chinese Name

Chinese surname · rank 3

张

张 is read as zhāng.

Pinyin

zhāng

Script forms

Simplified 张 · Traditional 張

Basic meaning

stretch; open; draw a bow

Five element

Wood

Origin

Time: Legendary antiquity; later recorded in surname lineage texts; Legendary antiquity; mytho-historical layer before 2070 BCE, not a verifiable calendar year

Place: Central Plains tradition, often connected with today's Puyang, Henan

Origin note

The best-known Zhang tradition traces the surname to Hui, a legendary figure connected with the making and management of bows. This fits the character itself includes the bow radical and carries meanings such as stretching or drawing open. Some accounts place the early cultural memory around Puyang and Qinghe-related traditions.

Historical figures

张骞 (Zhang Qian)

2nd century BCE · Han envoy and explorer

A Western Han envoy whose journeys to Central Asia became a major part of later Silk Road memory.

张衡 (Zhang Heng)

78-139 CE · Eastern Han polymath

Astronomer, mathematician, inventor and writer, often remembered for work connected with astronomy and the seismoscope tradition.

Sources checked