Zhang Shigui (586-657), a famous general in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), was from Shangwen village in Yuxian county, administered by Yangquan city in North China's Shanxi province.

Zhang learned martial arts since he was a child and was good at riding and shooting. 

At the end of the Sui Dynasty (581-618), he gathered a crowd to revolt against the tyranny of local rulers and later followed Li Yuan, founder and first emperor of the Tang Dynasty and made military contributions to the reunification of the Tang Dynasty and to border expansion.