Zhang Boxing

Life and career

In 1685, he passed the jinshi examination and was appointed a Zhongshu official in the Secretariat. He later served as the Jining circuit intendant in Shandong, the Jiangsu surveillance commissioner, governor of Fujian and Jiangsu, Vice Minister of Revenue, and Minister of Rites.

After more than 20 years in office, Kangxi praised him as the “No. 1 incorruptible official under Heaven” and also as the “No. 1 incorruptible official south of the Yangtze.”

In the first month of 1711, the Xinmao examination scandal broke out during the Jiangsu provincial examination. Governor-General Gali was accused of examination fraud and of using 500,000 taels of silver to buy juren; Zhang memorialized against him, and Gali countercharged Zhang with “seven major offenses,” producing the mutual-accusations case. The Kangxi emperor successively assigned the case to Zhang Penghe, He Shou, Mu Helun, and Zhang Tingshu for investigation; Zhang Penghe reported that the charges were entirely false. Gali’s mother then told the emperor of her son’s corruption and pleaded for Zhang Boxing, prompting the emperor to say, “Even his mother is ashamed of his conduct; his crime cannot be pardoned!” Gali was ultimately dismissed.

Although known as an incorruptible official, Zhang was also criticized for poor administration. Kangxi acknowledged his integrity but said that he was often muddled and stubborn in handling affairs, and described him as inherently partial, short of ability, and unfit for frontier-governor responsibilities. In 1714, Zhang impeached the provincial commissioner Mu Qinyuan for concealing the alleged pirate Zhang Lingtao; on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, Li Xu secretly reported that Zhang feared being killed both by pirates and by enemies, while the grain-transport commissioner Lang Tingji called him limited in ability and temperament, suspicious, and excessively exacting. Zhang Lingtao was later found not to be a pirate.

Not long afterward, Zhang entered the Southern Study and served provisionally as Vice Minister of the Granaries. In 1717 he was chief examiner for the Shuntian provincial examination; he later became Vice Minister of Revenue and in 1721 served as deputy examiner for the metropolitan examination.

In 1723, the first year of the Yongzheng reign, he was promoted to Minister of Rites and received a plaque honoring him as an eminent minister of ritual and music. The following year he was ordered to go to Que li to perform rites at the Chongsheng Shrine. He died in 1725, was posthumously granted the title Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and received the posthumous name Qingke; in the early Guangxu period he was enshrined in the Confucian Temple.

Family and intellectual connections

Zhang Yanshi was identified as his founding and migrating ancestor; Sun Yijing was his son-in-law, and Zhang Yufu his great-grandson.

Thought and teaching

His learning was centered on Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, and several thousand students studied under him. Among his friends were Ran Qinzu, Lu Shi, and Jing Rizhen; Shen Qiyuan and Shen Tong were listed as his students. Cheng Yulong was both his student and a partner in discussions of learning.

He wrote a preface to and a biography of Zhou Dunyi and his Lianxi ji, a preface to Luo Congyan’s Yuzhang wenji, and biographies of Xue Xuan, Hu Juren, and Luo Qinshun.

Works

Works explicitly classified as authored by Zhang Boxing include 《小學集解》, 《續近思錄》, 《學規類編》, 《困學錄集粹》, 《養正類編》, and 《近思錄十四卷》; works classified as compilations include 《廣近思錄》, 《朱子語類輯略》, and 《濂洛關閩書》.

His works include 《伊洛淵源錄》, 《養正類編》, 《困學錄》, 《正誼堂文集》, and 《居濟一得》, among others.

Other titles associated with him include 《正誼堂文集》, 《居濟一得》, 《濂洺關閩書》, 《唐宋八大家文錄》, 《論學酬答（陸世儀）》 in four juan, 《三賢政書》 in eighteen juan, 《二程語錄》 in eighteen juan, 《五子書集解》, 《伊洛淵源續錄》, 《唐宋八大家文鈔》 in nineteen juan, 《困學錄》 in twenty-four juan, 《困知記》, 《家規類編》, 《小學衍義》 in eighty-six juan, 《居業錄》, 《居濟一得補遺》 in one juan, and 《性理正宗》 in forty juan.

Further titles include 《正誼堂續集》 in eight juan, 《正誼堂集》 in twelve juan, 《洛書集解》, 《濂書集解》, 《程氏家塾分年日程原本》, 《續困學錄》 in twenty-four juan, 《續正誼堂文集》 in ten juan, 《薛文清讀書錄》 in eight juan, 《讀書錄》, 《近思錄集解》, 《道南原委》, 《道統源》, 《道統錄》 in three juan, 《閨中寶鑑》, 《閩書集解》, and 《關書集解》。