A number of basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors are known to function in stress signaling in plants but few have thus far been functionally characterized in maize. A bZIP transcription factor gene, ZmbZIP71, was isolated from maize inbred line CN165. Sequence analysis showed that ZmbZIP71 encoded a polypeptide of 156 amino acids with predicted molecular mass of 17.59 kDa and pI of 9.24. The genomic DNA of ZmbZIP71 was composed of two exons. The results of real-time PCR analysis indicated that ZmbZIP71 was up-regulated by drought, cold (4℃) and ABA, and down-regulated by NaCl treatment in seedlings, suggesting that ZmbZIP71 might function as an early stress-responsive gene. The tissue-specific expression analysis suggested that ZmbZIP71 was constitutively expressed in maize different tissues and expressed much higher in tassels and female ear than in other organs.