Zhu passed the initial level of the imperial exams when he was 19. At the age of 22, he became the chief registrar of Tongan County in the Quanzhou region of Fujian. During a brief period as an instructor in the imperial palace, he taught the Confucian classic The Great Learning to the emperor.
朱熹十九歲考中進士，二十二歲擔任福建泉州同安縣主簿，做過為期不長的煥章閣待制兼侍講，為皇帝講《大學》。