Zhang Jiayin

Family and examinations

His great-grandfather was Zhang Jiong (張逈), his grandfather Zhang Yuexun (張曰巽), and his father Zhang Wenjin (張文錦); his mother was Lady Shen, his elder brother Zhang Zongyin, his younger brother Zhang Xiyin, and his wife Lady Xiang. His sons were Zhang Shuke (張叔珂), Zhang Shupei (張叔珮), Zhang Shuqi (張叔琦), Zhang Shuhuan (張叔環), and Zhang Shuxi (張叔璽); his son-in-law was Gao Yuanzhi (高元之). His grandsons included Zhang Yuansun (張元孫), Zhang Tongsun (張同孫), Zhang Yisun (張宜孫), Zhang Mingsun (張明孫), Zhang Baosun (張保孫), Zhang Zhensun (張振孫), Zhang Yisun (張貽孫), and Zhang Lansun (張蘭孫). His granddaughters were Zhang Shu (張叔) and Zhang Bian (張變).

Coming from the county-student rank, he placed fifteenth in the Sichuan provincial examination and became a juren; in the twenty-ninth year of the Jiajing era (1550), he ranked eighty-second in the metropolitan examination and 183rd in the third class of presented scholars. An alternative account calls him a jinshi of the Jiajing wuxu year.

Career

Appointed magistrate of Huaxian in Henan, he subdued bandits who had impersonated the Jinyiwei in an attempt to extort him; he was then promoted to secretary in the Ministry of Revenue, transferred to the Bureau of Military Offices, and advanced to a langzhong in the Ministry of Rites. After an investigation prompted by a dust-laden haze, he was demoted to assistant prefect of Chenzhou and later became prefect of Puzhou in Shanxi.

In the forty-third year of Jiajing, he was promoted in the eighth month to an investigating vice-commissioner in Henan, and in the seventh month of the following year was transferred to Yunnan as commissioner for educational administration. During the Longqing era he became left vice director in Guangxi, deputy commissioner in Henan, right political commissioner in the Shaanxi administration with concurrent investigating duties, and finally surveillance commissioner in Shanxi; he also managed grain provisions. In the fifth year of Longqing, in the tenth month, he became an assistant censor-in-chief, governor of the Ying-Tian region, and supervisor of grain transport and military affairs.

In the second year of Wanli he was impeached, transferred to a Nanjing office, and sent back to his native place to await appointment. In the fourth year of Wanli he was recalled as president of the Nanjing Court of Judicial Review, promoted in the fourth month to president of the Nanjing Court of State Ceremonies, and in the twelfth month became vice censor-in-chief and governor of Baoding and other prefectures, with responsibility for the Zijing Passes; he subsequently returned home on mourning his mother. In the seventh year of Wanli he was appointed governor of Shaanxi in the sixth month, transferred to Xuanfu in the eighth month, and promoted to vice minister of War in the ninth year.

In the tenth year of Wanli, a mutiny broke out in Hangzhou’s eastern and western camps and the rebels assaulted Governor Wu Shanyan; Zhang succeeded him as governor of Zhejiang and suppressed the disturbances led by Ma Wenying and Liu Tingyong. In the eleventh year he was promoted to Minister of War and made responsible for assisting with the military administration of the capital camps; in the ninth month he concurrently became left vice censor-in-chief and governor-general of Ji-Liao. In the thirteenth year he was granted the honorific position of junior guardian of the heir, recalled in the intercalary ninth month to manage affairs in the Ministry of War, and awarded a first-rank patent. In the fourteenth year he was impeached, requested retirement, and was allowed to retire.

He died of illness in the sixteenth year of Wanli (1588) and was posthumously granted the rank of junior guardian. His posthumous name is given as Xiangmin in one account and Xiangxian in another; one account dates the conferral of Xiangxian to the beginning of the Tianqi era.

Literary activity and works

Zhang Jiayin exchanged literary compositions with Wang Shizhen and others and was counted among the Later Seven Sons; among the group, he was said to be the only one whose official career lasted from beginning to end. His associates included Liu Xuanzi; Tu Long and Li Weizhen wrote prefaces for his book, and Wang Shizhen wrote his epitaph.

His works include *Julai shanfang ji* (《居來山房集》) and *Julai shan ji* (《崌崍山集》); other titles are *Tianmu xiansheng ji*, in twenty-one juan, and *Julai xiansheng wenji*, in sixty-five juan with a one-juan appendix. His biography appears in the *Mingshi*.