Zang Wenzhong 臧文仲 Zangsun Chen 臧孫辰 and the House Zang 臧

Zang Wenzhong 臧文仲, personal name Zangsun Chen 臧孫辰, was a high minister in the state of Lu 魯 during the Spring and Autumn period 春秋 (770-5th cent. BCE). He was a grandson of Prince Da 達, a son of Zang Kou 臧彄, and grandson of Duke Xiao 魯孝公 (r. 796-769).

Zangsun Chen served the dukes Zhuang 魯莊公 (r. 694-662), Min 魯閔公 (r. 662-660), Xi 魯僖公 (r. 660-627) and Wen 魯文公 (r. 627-609). Zang Wenzhong is known for his economic politics of discarding the transit tax in order to promote trade. He praised the duke of Song 宋 for his cautious planning to avoid famine during natural disasters. He said that in ancient times the rulers Yu the Great 大禹 and Tang the Perfect 成湯 had sought reasons for failures in themselves, while bad rulers as Jie of Xia 夏桀 and Zhou of Shang 商紂 accused others, and therefore were doomed to ruin.

In 576 XXX, when Lu was beset by a draught, he asked the state of Qi 齊 for grain to bring relief to the population. During the reign of Duke Xi he suggested presenting jewellery to the king of Zhou 周 and the duke of Jin 晉, in order to have the marquis of Wei 衛 released. He also represented the state of Lu when part of the the territory of Cao 曹 was redistributed to other states.

In 622, when the state of Chu 楚 conquered the small vassal states of Liu 六 and Jiao 蓼 he lamented the missing virtue of the rulers of the present age. He served for sixty years as a high minister to the dukes of Lu. When he died, Zang Wenzhong was praised as a honest, yet conservative minister who had, in the words of Confucius 孔子, three points where humankindness were missing, and three points where wisdom was missing.

Zangwen 臧文 later became a family name.