His father, Zhang Rou, led local forces defending against the Mongols in the dying days of the Jin Dynasty, but switched his allegiance to the Mongols in 1218 and was later ennobled by the Yuan Dynasty.
Although some later books and retellings claim that Zhang was a traitor who turned against the Song Dynasty, this is not historically accurate,[4] since Zhang's place of birth had not been part of the Song empire and his family had served the Jin, then the Mongols.
Deng Guangjian, a fellow townsman of Wen Tianxiang, was tutor to Zhang Hongfan's family after he was rescued from attempting to drown himself at the Battle of Yamen.
[1] On his deathbed, Zhang had also pleaded with the Yuan Emperor Kublai Khan to spare the life of Wen Tianxiang.
[1] Aside from these descriptions in Wen's biography, Deng also wrote a preface to Zhang's various collected writings.