Zhang Tingfu entered the village private school in 1882 and studied under Zhang Zhaotong, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, and Zhang Hongquan, a Gong student of the Qing Dynasty. He received a very strict education in the old school. For the daily calligraphy class alone, you must practice more than 200 words in block letters every morning, and you can only have breakfast after finishing it. As for Chinese daily classes, students must recite the content taught that day accurately and fluently before school every afternoon before they can have dinner.
In 1894, Zhang Tingfu was admitted to the county school. In 1895 and 1896, he passed the official and scientific examinations and ranked among the first class. He obtained the title of endowed student and received monthly food subsidies from the county school. In 1902 (the 28th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty), Ding Zhenduo, governor of Guangxi, changed the Guilin Physical Education School into the "Guangxi University Hall", the earliest university in Guangxi. Zhang Tingfu was admitted to Guangxi University that year and became the direct disciple of Liang Wenshan, a famous teacher from He County. Due to his family's decline, he made it through the difficulties by studying at school during the day and going out to teach at night to make money. After graduation, he stayed at the school to teach. In 1909, he was recommended by the Feng College of Guangxi Province at that time because of his excellent conduct and academics, and was recommended by Guangxi Provincial Academic Affairs to go to Beijing to take the Xuantong Jiyou Palace Examination. He was appointed by the emperor to be the first among the Gongsheng students in this subject, and he entered the Imperial College in Beijing for further study.
Zhang Tingfu saw that the Qing Dynasty was weak and corrupt, and he began to come into contact with, understand and identify with the bourgeois democratic revolutionary ideas ideologically. He believed that civil rights would defeat monarchy and that democratic democracy and peace would replace feudal autocracy, so he supported the League of Nations led by Sun Yat-sen to launch the Revolution of 1911 and actively followed the bourgeois democratic revolution in action. In 1911, Sun Yat-sen led the Revolution of 1911 to success. As a representative recommended by the Guangdong and Guangxi governments, Zhang Tingfu went to Nanjing to participate in assisting interim President Sun Yat-sen in presiding over the interim government of the Republic of China. His talent was valued by Sun Yat-sen and he was elected as a member of Congress. In 1916, Yuan Shikai died before the founding of his country, and Vice President Li Yuanhong succeeded him as president.
On June 12, 1917, Li Yuanhong was coerced by Zhang Xun and ordered the dissolution of the "Republic of China" Congress for the second time and the restoration of the Qing court. Members of Congress went south to protect the law and resumed their meetings in Guangzhou on August 25, called the "Parliament to Protect the Law." It was also called an "extraordinary session of Congress" due to insufficient quorum attendance, and was a continuation of the first Congress. Zhang Tingfu served as a member of the House of Representatives until June 16, 1922, when Chen Jiongming rebelled, and the France-Defending Assembly effectively ended.
On August 1, 1922, the first Congress of the Republic of China resumed its session in Beijing. On October 11, the third regular session of Congress was held, and Zhang Tingfu was re-elected as a senator. It was not until December 1924 that Duan Qirui abandoned the "Constitution of the Republic of China" and the first Congress was formally abolished. From then on, he hated corrupt officials who abused their power and humiliated the country, and felt deeply that he had no way to serve the country. Therefore, he wrote poems such as "A powerful family never forgets to make profits, and a good relationship does not choose people." to express his views on the political corruption and reality at that time. Dissatisfaction with life.
When his mother passed away in 1928, he resigned from his job on the grounds of returning to his hometown for funeral, and took his family back to his hometown of Longjing Village, Shatian Town. In the capital for more than ten years, Zhang Tingfu served as a member of Congress and presidential adviser to three presidents, Sun Yat-sen, Li Yuanhong and Cao Kun, and held important positions in the government of the Republic of China for more than ten years. Among them, Li Yuanhong awarded Zhang Tingfu a plaque of "Second Class Jiahe Medal, Presidential Advisor" for his meritorious service in the government. This plaque can still be seen when visiting the Hezhou Museum today.