Background
Zhang Jianzhi was born in 625, during the reign of Emperor Gaozu. His family was from Xiang Prefecture (襄州, roughly modern Xiangfan, Hubei). In his youth, he was a student at the imperial university, and he was said to have a broad study in the Confucian classics and history, but particularly favored studying the Three Rites (i.e., the Classic of Rites, the Rites of Zhou, and the Yili "Etiquette and Rites"). He was respected by the principal of the imperial university Linghu Defen. After he passed the imperial examinations, he was made the magistrate of Qingcheng County (青城, in modern Chengdu, Sichuan). However, little further is known about his career until 689, other than that in or before 676, he was serving as the cashier for Li Sujie the Prince of Xun, a son of Emperor Gaozong (Emperor Taizong's son) and Emperor Gaozong's concubine Consort Xiao, who was killed in 655 due to machinations by Emperor Gaozong's second wife Empress Wu (later known as Wu Zetian). Li Sujie, denied the privilege of seeing his father after his mother's death, had written an essay entitled Commentary on Faithfulness and Filial Piety (忠孝論), and Zhang secretly submitted the essay to Emperor Gaozong. After Empress Wu read it, it drew her ire, and she falsely accused Li Sujie of corruption and had him demoted and put under house arrest.
In 689, by which time Empress Wu was serving as empress dowager and regent over her son Emperor Ruizong, she held a competition for scholars willing to offer suggestions for the imperial administration. Zhang participated in the competition and was ranked first among the thousands of contestants. She promoted him to be an imperial censor.
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