Zhang Min

Life

He passed the imperial examination as a jinshi in the fifth year of the Tiansheng era (1027), under Emperor Renzong, and was appointed a collator of the Palace Library (秘書省校書郎) and an assistant in Wujun (吳郡從事); he served as judge (推官) of the Pingjiang Army and also held posts as judge of Muzhou and of the prefectural government of Daming, as attendant of the heir apparent (太子中允), and as magistrate of Fuyang. In the middle of the Qingli era he became assistant director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices (太常寺丞) and, on the recommendation of Wang Yaochen and others, a collator of the Academy of Worthies (集賢校理); he was later demoted to controller-general of Jiangzhou, a post he held in the fourth year of Qingli (1044).

He afterwards served as controller-general of Wuzhou, and went on to govern Quzhou (1049–1050), Huzhou (1052–1054) and Xuanzhou (1060–1064). In the second year of Zhiping (1065) he became prefect of Yuezhou, and in 1067 he was transferred to Fuzhou, where he also served as pacification commissioner; early in the Xining era under Emperor Shenzong he was prefect of Haizhou (1068–1069). He also governed Suzhou and served as fiscal commissioner (轉運使) of the Liangzhe and Jiangnan East circuits, and held posts as vice director and director in the ministries of Revenue, Personnel, Works and Justice. He rose to be director of the Ministry of War (兵部郎中), vice minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices (太常少卿) and auxiliary editorial director of the Palace Library (直秘閣), and ended his career as chief minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments (光祿卿).

He died at Runzhou in 1071, the fourth year of Xining, and was buried there. He was known for his achievements in office and was regarded as an able administrator.

Poetry and associates

Zhang Min was a man of firm and uncompromising character and a skilled poet; six of his poems are still extant. Fan Zhongyan once wrote poems together with him, and, seeing that Zhang's poem was completed first, remarked that it could truly put Yuan and Bai in the shade. Ouyang Xiu and Zeng Gong both addressed letters to him.

Family

His great-grandfather was Zhang Renyu and his grandfather Zhang Xie. He had three younger brothers, Zhang Hu, Zhang Xian and Zhang Lin, and Zhang Dexiang (978–1048) was his cousin. He married a woman of the Wang family and had three sons, the second being Zhang Daoshi and the third Zhang Renshou. His funerary inscription was composed by Sun Zhu; the seal cover, the calligraphy and the engraving are attributed respectively to Wen Xun, Li Yu and Zhang Jie.