Zhang Zhidong was born in an official family and he passed the imperial examination at a young age. He rarely understood the difficulties of the poor and went in for ostentation and extravagance, so he always ran short of money. At the end of the year, he asked his servants to mortgage his belongs.

As Zhang was the viceroy of Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi, it became an anecdote in Qing Dynasty.

Zhang’s colleagues said that his family was in poor conditions after his death.