Biographer Jack Dull considers Fàn Zhi a representative of the rise of "new families" which were gradually replacing the exclusive aristocracy of the Tang dynasty.
Fàn became a prefectural judge (推官) for the Zhongwu Commandery (忠武軍; roughly governing today's central Henan), and was later promoted to the post of subprefect of Fengqiu which he served until Later Tang was overthrown in 936.
In 943, Fàn Zhi was promoted to the post of assistant division chief of the Department of Hospitality (主客員外郎) and auxiliary official of the Institute of History (直史館).
A year later, he became a Hanlin Academician and division chief (郎中) of the Department of Accounting, Ministry of Finance (比部), as well as special drafting of the Secretariat (知制誥).
"[3] In the winter months of early 951, Guo Wei rebelled against the Later Han emperor Liu Chengyou and his army swiftly conquered the capital Kaifeng.