Abstract
In 1622, the Ministry of Personnel presented a memorial to the court, requesting that some members of a Zhang family who were residing in Luanzhou, Hebei, be moved to Meixian, in Fengxiang Prefecture, Shaanxi. It is stated in the memorial that after investigating the local gazetteer of Luanzhou and the genealogy of the Zhangs, the Ministry confirmed that the Zhangs were the descendants of the great Northern Song Daoxue master Zhang Zai (1020–1077). The Ministry thought that since the descendants of Thou Dunyi (1017–1073), the Cheng brothers (Cheng Hao [1032–1085] and Cheng Yi [1033–1107]) and Zhu Xi (1130–1200) had all been given prestigious titles, the Zhangs should also receive the same grace from the court. It was later decided that Zhang Wenyun, a fourteenth-generation descendant of Zhang Zai and a shengyuan in the county school of Luancheng, be given the honorific title of Erudite of the Five Classics (wujing bosh). He and his family members should also stay in Meixian, the hometown of Zhang Zai, to take care of Zhang Zai's grave and carry out sacrificial rites for Zhang Zai.
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