Gu Yanwu
Zhang was born with the given name Xuecheng (學乘) in Yuhang (now a district in Hangzhou), Zhejiang to a scholarly family. In 1901, to demonstrate his hatred of the Manchu rulers of the Qing state, he changed his name to ‘Taiyan’ after two scholars who had resisted the Qing takeover 250 years before: ‘Tai’ came from Taichong, the pen name of Huang Zongxi, and ‘Yan’ from Gu Yanwu.