Zhang Zhibai

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Zhang Zhibai was born in 962, the third year of the Jianlong era, and was a native of Qingchi in Cang Prefecture. He was devoted to study in childhood. When he was nine, his father died in Xing Prefecture and the coffin was temporarily deposited in a Buddhist monastery. During a Khitan incursion into Hebei, many temple buildings fell into ruin, and the location of the coffin became impossible to identify. After Zhang Zhibai passed the jinshi examination, he traveled on foot in search of it. He found the foundation stones of the monastery's main hall and suddenly recognized the place where his father's coffin had been left. When the coffin was opened, the burial clothing matched what had been remembered, and those present marveled at his filial devotion.

Zhang Zhibai was also known for an exceptional memory. On one occasion, while passing through Shan Prefecture, he met the vice-prefect Sun He. The two read an ancient roadside inscription several thousand characters long, and after returning Zhang was able to recite it completely without omission.

Early Official Career

In 989, the second year of Duangong, Zhang Zhibai passed the jinshi examination. After several promotions, he became administrative judge under the military commissioner at Heyang (in the Luoyang area of present-day Henan). During the Xianping era, he submitted a memorial discussing urgent contemporary affairs. Emperor Zhenzong considered him exceptional and summoned him to sit an examination in the Drafter's Office, after which he provisionally served as Right Remonstrator. Zhang presented the “Admonition at the Phoenix Throne” and was then sent out as prefect of Jian Prefecture.

A year later he was recalled for examination in the Secretariat, appointed to the Historiography Institute, personally granted fifth-rank court dress by Emperor Zhenzong, and placed in charge of the Kaichai Office of the State Finance Commission.

Service in Central and Provincial Posts

When drought struck Jiangnan, Zhang Zhibai and Li Fang were sent on separate circuits to provide pacification and relief. On his return, Zhang temporarily managed the duties of the Jingdong Fiscal Commissioner.

When the Zhoubo star appeared, the Bureau of Astronomy reported it to Emperor Zhenzong as an auspicious omen, and the assembled officials offered congratulations. Zhang alone argued that a ruler should cultivate virtue and respond to Heaven, and that the appearance or disappearance of such a star had no intrinsic connection to good government. He used the occasion to explain the essentials of state policy. The emperor told the Grand Councilors, “Zhibai can truly be said to devote his heart to the court.” When the emperor later performed the feng and shan sacrifices and proclaimed peace throughout the realm, Zhang was promoted to Right Supervising Secretary.

During a famine in Shaanxi, Emperor Zhenzong ordered Zhang to inspect the region. Not long afterward he took charge of Deng Prefecture. When migrant laborers from the western passes entered the prefecture, Zhang opened the granaries and also encouraged local people to contribute grain for relief. He was promoted to a Longtu Pavilion probationary appointment, placed in charge of the Office for the Review of Officials, later promoted to Director in the Ministry of Works, and sent on an embassy to the Khitan.

Zhang believed that the court's appointment system placed too much emphasis on central posts and too little on provincial administration. Citing the Tang statesman Li Jiao's proposal to transfer senior central officials to govern regional commands, he requested an outside appointment for himself. Emperor Zhenzong initially refused and instead ordered him to supervise criminal cases in the capital. Zhang persisted in asking for provincial service and was finally placed in charge of Qing Prefecture. After returning to the capital, he asked to supervise the Directorate of Education. Zhenzong asked, “Has Zhang Zhibai perhaps become exhausted by handling difficult and complicated matters?” The Grand Councilors replied, “Zhang Zhibai has served both inside and outside the court and has never planned for his own benefit.” He was therefore promoted to Right Remonstrance Grand Master, served provisionally as Censor-in-chief, and was appointed Palace Attendant and Assistant Grand Councilor.

Assistant Grand Councilor and Resignation

After the suburban altar ceremonies were completed, Zhang was promoted to Vice Minister of Works. At the time his colleague Wang Zeng was promoted to Palace Attendant but still ranked above Zhang. Zhang was dissatisfied and repeatedly submitted memorials declining his own appointment. Wang Zeng likewise firmly requested that he be ranked below Zhang. Zhang was then granted the rank of Grand Master for Splendid Happiness with Gold Seal and Purple Ribbon, restored as Palace Attendant, and placed in charge of the Court of Ritual. When Wang Zeng left office, Zhang returned the title he had previously declined.

At the time Wang Qinruo was Grand Councilor, Zhang Zhibai frequently disagreed with him in discussions of government affairs. Zhang therefore claimed illness and resigned, being transferred to the posts of Vice Minister of Justice, Hanlin Reader-in-Waiting, and prefect of Daming. When Wang Qinruo was later assigned duties in the Southern Capital, Grand Councilor Ding Wei, who had long resented Wang, transferred Zhang to serve as administrator of the Southern Capital in the hope that he would retaliate against him. After arriving, however, Zhang treated Wang Qinruo with even greater courtesy. Ding Wei became angry and transferred Zhang again, this time to Bo Prefecture, with a subsequent move to the Ministry of War.

Grand Councilor and Death

After Emperor Renzong ascended the throne, Zhang was promoted to Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs and made Deputy Military Affairs Commissioner. As Minister of Works, he concurrently became Participant in Determining Government Matters, administrator of Huiling Abbey, and Grand Academician of Jixian Hall.

In 1025, the third year of Tiansheng, Zhang Zhibai became Grand Councilor. When newly successful jinshi candidates were presented and the court bestowed the “Chapter on the Doctrine of the Mean,” the Secretariat submitted a copy and Zhang was ordered to read it aloud. Whenever he reached passages on self-cultivation and ordering the family, he repeatedly elaborated on their meaning.

As Grand Councilor, Zhang was sparing in the use of ceremonial carriages, dress, ranks, and titles and showed no selfish interest. He constantly warned against pride and complacency. Though he had attained high rank, he remained as frugal as a poor scholar. He was, however, physically frail and increasingly anxious and apprehensive. One day he suddenly suffered dizziness in the Secretariat and was carried home. Emperor Renzong personally visited to ask after his condition, but Zhang could no longer speak and soon died. Renzong canceled the Shangsi festival excursion because of his death and posthumously granted him the titles Grand Tutor and Secretariat Director.

The ritual official Xie Jiang proposed the posthumous name Wenjie. Censor Wang Jiayan argued: “Zhang Zhibai upheld righteousness and exhausted his loyalty to the state. In office he did not bend before difficulty or the powerful; he may be called upright, and should receive the posthumous name Wenzheng.” Wang Zeng replied, “Wenjie is itself a laudatory posthumous name,” and the designation was therefore not changed.

Major Activities

Political Activities

Opposition to Auspicious-Portent Politics: When the Zhoubo star appeared, the astronomical authorities reported it as an auspicious omen and the officials offered congratulations. Zhang Zhibai alone argued that a ruler should cultivate virtue and respond to Heaven and that the star's appearance or disappearance had no necessary connection to good government. He used the opportunity to explain the essential principles of rule. Emperor Zhenzong told the Grand Councilors, “Zhibai can truly be said to devote his heart to the court.”

Famine Relief: During famine in Shaanxi, Zhang was ordered to inspect the region. While governing Deng Prefecture, he opened official granaries when migrant laborers from the western passes entered the area and also encouraged local households to contribute grain for relief.

Request for Provincial Service: Believing that the state valued central office too highly and provincial government too little, Zhang cited the Tang statesman Li Jiao's proposal to transfer leading central officials to regional administration. He requested an outside appointment and was eventually sent to govern Qing Prefecture.

Response to the Khitan: During the Tiansheng era, the Khitan conducted a large-scale military review and claimed that they intended to seize You Prefecture, causing serious concern at the Song court. Other ministers proposed preparing grain and training troops against an emergency. Zhang Zhibai argued that this would be mistaken: the Khitan had only recently established relations with the Song, and the demonstration was probably intended to test the reactions of the newly enthroned Emperor Renzong. Rather than create disorder through open preparations, he proposed, if precautions were thought necessary, deploying troops under the pretext of guarding against breaches of the Yellow River, which would avoid alarming the Khitan. Soon afterward the Khitan forces withdrew.

Personal Frugality

Zhang Zhibai was famous for frugal habits. Even while serving as Grand Councilor, he continued to live as simply as he had before entering high office and considered himself content. Someone advised him to follow common practice so that others would not accuse him of false austerity. A close acquaintance asked why, despite his high salary, he maintained such a plain household. Zhang replied that he had heard it said, “Rich flavor is soon exhausted; in simplicity the pleasure lasts long.” With his salary, he said, he could easily provide fine clothing and rich food for his whole family. But ordinary human habits made it easy to pass from frugality to luxury and difficult to return from luxury to frugality. His salary could not last forever, nor could his own life. If his family became accustomed to luxury and later lost his income, they would be unable to adapt quickly to simple living. If their way of life remained the same whether he held office or not, and whether he lived or died, then even after his death they could continue as they did at present. Those who heard him admired his foresight.

Sima Guang recorded this story in “Instructions on Frugality to Kang” and honored Zhang as a “great worthy.”

Filial Conduct and Anecdotes

Zhang lost his father at the age of nine. During a Khitan incursion into Hebei, the Buddhist monastery where his father's coffin had been deposited fell into ruin and the coffin's location could no longer be identified. After passing the examinations, Zhang traveled on foot in search of it, found the foundation of the main hall, recognized where the coffin had rested, and opened it to confirm the burial garments. Those present praised his filial devotion.

He once read a roadside stone inscription several thousand characters long together with Sun He and, after returning, was able to recite the entire text without omission.

Personal Relations

Family

Father: Member of the Zhang family, personal name unknown; died in Xing Prefecture.

Nephew: Zhang Zisi.

Friends and Colleagues

Wang Zeng: Colleague and later Grand Councilor; participated in determining Zhang's posthumous name.

Li Fang: Colleague; served with Zhang on famine-relief duties in Jiangnan.

Sun He: Friend and vice-prefect of Shan Prefecture.

Xie Jiang: Ritual official who proposed the posthumous name Wenjie.

Wang Jiayan: Censor who advocated the posthumous name Wenzheng.

Rulers

Emperor Zhenzong of Song: Zhang had passed the jinshi examination under Emperor Taizong and was heavily employed under Zhenzong, who praised him for “devoting his heart to the court.”

Emperor Renzong of Song: Appointed Zhang Grand Councilor, personally visited him during his final illness, and canceled the Shangsi festival excursion after his death.

Conflicts

Wang Qinruo: As Grand Councilor, frequently disagreed with Zhang on government affairs, prompting Zhang to claim illness and resign.

Ding Wei: Transferred Zhang to the Southern Capital in the hope that he would retaliate against Wang Qinruo; when Ding learned that Zhang instead treated Wang generously, he angrily transferred Zhang to Bo Prefecture.

Historical Assessment

Song and Contemporary Views

Sima Guang, in “Instructions on Frugality to Kang,” honored Zhang as a “great worthy” and held him up as a model of frugal virtue, observing that “when Zhang Wenjie was Grand Councilor, his personal maintenance was the same as when he had been a secretary at Heyang.”

Emperor Zhenzong said, “Zhibai can truly be said to devote his heart to the court.”

When Emperor Zhenzong asked the chief ministers, “Has Zhibai perhaps grown weary of handling difficult affairs?” they replied, “Zhibai has served both in central and provincial posts and has never planned for himself.”

Song and Yuan Periods

Toghto and the other compilers of the History of Song wrote: “Li Di, Wang Zeng, Zhang Zhibai, and Du Yan were all worthy Grand Councilors. The moral force of the four was often similar.... Zhibai and Yan were firm, upright, pure, and frugal; both could be sparing in the granting of honors and offices and restrain those who sought advancement by chance, possessing in an awe-inspiring way the bearing of great ministers. The worthy Grand Councilors of the Song were nowhere more numerous than in the reigns of Zhenzong and Renzong; how could Han's Wei Xiang or Tang's Song Jing and Yang Wan monopolize such praise?”

Ming and Qing Periods

During the Ming and Qing periods, Zhang Zhibai was widely praised as a model incorrupt official. His saying that “it is easy to pass from frugality to luxury and difficult to return from luxury to frugality” was included in many family instructions and elementary educational texts and became a classic example in traditional instruction on thrift.

Modern Views

Modern scholars commonly classify him as a prominent Northern Song minister and a representative incorrupt official. Zhang Xiumin compiled a Chronological Biography of Ancestor Duke Wenjie (Zhang Zhibai), systematically organizing his life and deeds. In studies of clean-government culture, Zhang Zhibai is often listed alongside Bao Zheng and Fan Zhongyan as a typical Song example of an upright official.