Background
Zhang Peilun was born in Hangzhou on November 24, 1848. His father, Zhang Yintang (張印塘, 1797–1854), was a mid-level government official who died when Zhang Peilun was only a child, which left the family in genteel poverty.
張佩綸
Zhang Peilun was born in Hangzhou on November 24, 1848. His father, Zhang Yintang (張印塘, 1797–1854), was a mid-level government official who died when Zhang Peilun was only a child, which left the family in genteel poverty.
After passing the provincial imperial examination at age 23 and the metropolitan one at 24, he came under the tutelage of Li Hongzao, the older brother of Li Hongzhang, and quickly rose to prominence. Shortly before the outbreak of the Sino-French War Zhang was appointed imperial commissioner with responsibility for the defence of Fujian province. His Fujian Fleet was defeated and almost annihilated by the French Far East Squadron, under the command of Admiral Amédée Courbet, at the Battle of Fuzhou (23 August 1884).
Zhang had made no serious attempt to coordinate the resistance of the Fujian fleet, and was demoted by the Empress Dowager Cixi on 19 September 1884 and replaced as Fujian defence commissioner by the veteran general Zuo Zongtang (左宗棠).
He was then exiled to serve as a soldier in Zhangjiakou, a rural town in Northeast China. Reportedly, Li was so impressed with Zhang that he encouraged Zhang to marry Li"s eldest daughter, Li Juou (李菊藕, 1866–1912), despite the couple"s disparate ages and opposition from Li Juou"s mother.
Nonetheless, Li Hongzhang still refused to help Zhang enter public life again and Zhang devoted himself to his literary ambitions instead. The couple eventually co-wrote a cookbook and a martial arts novel.
In 1903, Zhang died in Nanjing at the age of 56 due to an unspecified liver disease.
Their graves were exhumed and desecrated during the Cultural Revolution five decades later. Zhang Zhiyi"s daughter (and Zhang Peilun"s granddaughter), Eileen Chang, is one of the most famous Chinese writers of the 20th century.
Zhang was one of the foremost members of the so-called "Purist Party" (清流黨) led by Zhang Zhidong (張之洞), an extremist group which urged resistance to French encroachment in north Vietnam in the early 1880s, even at the cost of war with France, in opposition to the more moderate stance advocated by Li Hongzhang and his supporters.
Zhang was one of the foremost members of the so-called "Purist Party" (清流黨) led by Zhang Zhidong (張之洞), an extremist group which urged resistance to French encroachment in north Vietnam in the early 1880s, even at the cost of war with France, in opposition to the more moderate stance advocated by Li Hongzhang and his supporters.