His most famous books are: Zhang Dai was born in Ming Dynasty Wanli 25th year (1597 AD) in Shanyin (山陰), now Shaoxing of Zhejiang province, China.
His ancestors came from Sichuan Zhang Dai never passed the Imperial examinations which led to the Ming civil service, instead he became a private scholar and aesthete.
His family's wealth allowed him to develop his aesthetic tastes in such pursuits as Moon watching festivals, Chinese lantern design, the sponsorship of dramatic troupes, appreciation of tea, and garden and landscape aesthetics.
When anarchy and war broke over his beloved landscape in the Yangtze delta he was forced to flee to the mountains where he hid as a Buddhist monk.
[2] When he returned in 1649 all his property was gone and he lived as a tenant in the ruins of one of his beloved gardens.
It was here he completed his history of the Ming Dynasty, in part to explain its collapse.
"I have long heard your reputation, I will not leave here unless I get to drink Vin-sui tea" I replied.
Vin-sui was pleased, and set up stove and brew tea himself, as swiftly as wind and storm.
He led me into a room with bright windows and clean desk and filled with Thorn Brook tea pots and Chen Shuen Kiln porcelain cups.
He soon returned with a kettle and pour me a full cup of tea, and said "please try this" "It has an intense aroma and rich taste.
The one I tasted before was Autumn pick" Vin-sui laughed heartily and said "In seventy years of my life, I have never met a single connoisseur like you!"