Zhang Xu

Zhang Xu (traditional Chinese: 張旭; simplified Chinese: 张旭; pinyin: Zhāng Xù; Wade–Giles: Chang Hsü, fl. 8th century), courtesy name Bogao (伯高), was a Chinese calligrapher and poet of the Tang Dynasty.

A native of Suzhou, he became an official during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. Zhang was known as one of the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup. Legend has it that whenever he was drunk, he would use his hair as brush to perform his art, and upon his waking up, he would be amazed by the quality of those works but failed to produce them again in his sober state.

Though more well known for his explosive cursive script, he excelled in the regular script. There is an anecdote that says he grasped the essence of cursive writing by observing some porters fight for their way with the guard of honor of some princess, and by watching the solo performance of a famous sword-dancer named Lady Gongsun (公孫大娘). He was known as 草聖 (the Divine Grassist) for his great skill in the grass script.

Cho U

Cho U (simplified Chinese: 张栩; traditional Chinese: 張栩; pinyin: Zhang Xu; Wade–Giles: Chang Hsu; born on 20 January 1980) is a Taiwanese professional Go player. He currently ranks 6th in the most titles won by a Japanese professional; his NEC Cup win in 2011 put him past his teacher Rin Kaiho and Norimoto Yoda. Cho is the first player in history to have held five of the top seven major titles simultaneously with Iyama Yuta being the second. Cho U, Naoki Hane, Keigo Yamashita and Shinji Takao make up the group of players in Japan called the "Four Emperors". His wife is Izumi Kobayashi, the great Kitani's granddaughter and daughter of Kobayashi Koichi.

Biography

Cho U was born in Taipei, Taiwan. He began playing poker and bridge as a young child. Cho's father Chang Yuen-hsi taught him to play Go, and he began beating family members by the age of three. He credits Shen Chun-shan as one of his early Go teachers; he first played against Shen at age seven. Shen was impressed by the young Cho's skill and introduced his family to Rin Kaiho.