Northern Song prose master and official, known as the Master of Henan, who asked to share Fan Zhongyan's demotion in 1036.
Mural guide
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Yin Zhu, courtesy name Shilu, was a native of Luoyang known as the Master of Henan. A jinshi of 1024, he served in the academies and on the northwestern frontier, where he became expert in border affairs. When Fan Zhongyan was demoted in 1036, Yin declared himself Fan's partisan and asked to share his punishment, and was sent to oversee the wine tax at Yingzhou. His terse, disciplined prose made him, with Ouyang Xiu, a pioneer of the Song classical-prose revival. Ouyang's 'Letter to Remonstrator Gao' cites Yin's demotion in contrast to Gao's silence.
1036Fan Zhongyan Demoted over Officials ChartIn 1036 Fan Zhongyan presented a chart of officials criticising Chief Minister Lü Yijian's appointments, was accused of faction-building, and was sent out to govern Raozhou.
After passing the jinshi examination Yin Zhu served as registrar of Zhengping, was recommended and tested into the Archive Collation Office, and rose to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and prefect of Jingzhou. He then held the prefecture of Weizhou with charge of military affairs for the Jing-Yuan circuit, became Imperial Diarist and Academician of the Dragon Diagram Hall and prefect of Luzhou, and was finally sent to supervise the wine tax at Junzhou.
In the early Song Liu Kai began writing in the ancient style, and Yin Zhu and Mu Xiu revived it. Yin Zhu wrote tersely and with method, left a collection in twenty-seven scrolls. Later posted to supervise the wine tax at Junzhou, he fell ill, went on to Nanyang to seek a doctor and died there at forty-seven.
Song
