PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: Confucianism
Chinese philosopher
Xunzi was a philosopher who was one of the three great Confucian philosophers of the classical period in China. He elaborated and systematized the work undertaken by Confucius and Mencius, giving a cohesiveness,...
Chinese philosopher
Zhu Xi was a Chinese philosopher whose synthesis of neo-Confucian thought long dominated Chinese intellectual life. Zhu Xi was the son of a local official. He was educated in the Confucian tradition by...
Chinese philosopher
Mencius was an early Chinese philosopher whose development of orthodox Confucianism earned him the title “second sage.” Chief among his basic tenets was an emphasis on the obligation of rulers to provide...
Chinese scholar
Kang Youwei was a Chinese scholar, a leader of the Reform Movement of 1898 and a key figure in the intellectual development of modern China. During the last years of the empire and the early years of the...
Chinese philosopher
Confucius was China’s most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, whose ideas have profoundly influenced the civilizations of China and other East Asian countries. Confucius was born near...
Chinese philosopher
Wang Yangming was a Chinese scholar-official whose idealistic interpretation of neo-Confucianism influenced philosophical thinking in East Asia for centuries. Though his career in government was rather...
emperor of Han dynasty
Wudi was the autocratic Chinese emperor (141–87 bc) who vastly increased the authority of the Han dynasty (206 bc–ad 220) and extended Chinese influence abroad. He made Confucianism the state religion...
Japanese military strategist
Yamaga Sokō was a military strategist and Confucian philosopher who set forth the first systematic exposition of the missions and obligations of the samurai (warrior) class and who made major contributions...
Chinese philosopher
Zhou Dunyi was a Chinese philosopher considered the most important precursor of Neo-Confucianism, the ethical and metaphysical system that became the officially sponsored mode of thought in China for almost...
Chinese scholar
Dong Zhongshu was a scholar instrumental in establishing Confucianism in 136 bce as the state cult of China and as the basis of official political philosophy—a position it was to hold for 2,000 years....
Japanese regent and author
Taishi Shōtoku was an influential regent of Japan and author of some of the greatest contributions to Japanese historiography, constitutional government, and ethics. Shōtoku was a member of the powerful...
Chinese philosopher
Yan Yuan was the Chinese founder of a pragmatic empirical school of Confucianism opposed to the speculative neo-Confucian philosophy that had dominated China since the 11th century. Yan’s father was abducted...
Chinese philosopher
Shao Yong was a Chinese philosopher who greatly influenced the development of the idealist school of Neo-Confucianism (see Confucianism). Shao Yong’s mathematical ideas also influenced the 18th-century...
Chinese philosopher
Liang Shuming was a neo-Confucian philosopher and writer who attempted to demonstrate the relevance of Confucianism to China’s problems in the 20th century. A believer in the unity of thought and action,...
Japanese scholar
Hayashi Razan was a Japanese scholar who, with his son and grandson, established the thought of the great Chinese Neo-Confucian philosopher Chu Hsi as the official doctrine of the Tokugawa shogunate (the...
Chinese philosopher
Zisi was a Chinese philosopher and grandson of Confucius (551–479 bce). Varying traditional accounts state that Zisi, who studied under Confucius’s pupil Zengzi, taught either Mencius (Mengzi)—the “second...
Chinese philosopher
Cheng Yi was a Chinese philosopher who influenced the development of the rationalist school of Neo-Confucianism. His statement “Principle is one but its manifestations are many” stressed the importance...
Chinese philosopher
Zhang Zai was a realist philosopher of the Song dynasty, a leader in giving neo-Confucianism a metaphysical and epistemological foundation. The son of a magistrate, Zhang studied Buddhism and Daoism but...
Chinese scholar
Xu Heng was a Chinese neo-Confucian thinker who became the leading scholar in the court of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan (1215–94). The Mongols reunited China after the fall of the Southern Song dynasty...
Chinese philosopher
Cheng Hao was a Chinese philosopher who, with his brother, Cheng Yi, developed Neo-Confucianism into an organized philosophy. Cheng Hao’s idealist school emphasized pure thought and introspection, while...
Chinese philosopher
Lu Jiuyuan was an idealist neo-Confucian philosopher of the Southern Song and rival of his contemporary, the great neo-Confucian rationalist Zhu Xi. Lu’s thought was revised and refined three centuries...
Chinese philosopher
Wang Chong was one of the most original and independent Chinese thinkers of the Han period (206 bce–220 ce). A rationalistic naturalist during an age of superstition, Wang dared attack the belief in omens...
Chinese scholar
Li Ao was a Chinese scholar, poet, and official who helped reestablish Confucianism at a time when it was being severely challenged by Buddhism and Daoism. Li helped lay the groundwork for the later Neo-Confucianists...
emperor of Han dynasty
Yuandi was the posthumous name (shi) of the ninth emperor (reigned 49/48–33 bc) of the Han dynasty (206 bc–ad 220). He ardently promoted and helped firmly establish Confucianism as the official creed of...
Chinese philosopher
He Yan was a Chinese scholar who cofounded the philosophical movement qingtan (“pure conversation”), in which groups of scholars used Daoist terms and concepts to give new meanings to Confucian texts....
Chinese scholar
Gongsun Hong was a scholar who helped establish Confucianism as the official doctrine of the Chinese state. According to tradition, Gongsun Hong was a poor swineherd who did not begin the study of the...
Chinese alchemist
Ge Hong was a figure in Chinese Daoism, perhaps the best-known alchemist, who tried to combine Confucian ethics with the occult doctrines of Daoism. In his youth he received a Confucian education, but...
Chinese minister
Feng Dao was a Chinese Confucian minister generally given credit for instigating the first printing of the Confucian Classics, in 932. As a result, Confucian texts became cheap and accessible, the number...
emperor of Song dynasty
Zhenzong was the temple name (miaohao) of the third emperor (reigned 997–1022) of the Song dynasty (960–1279), who strengthened Confucianism and concluded a peace treaty with the Liao empire to the north...
emperor of Song dynasty
Renzong was the temple name (miaohao) of the fourth emperor (reigned 1022–63) of the Song dynasty (960–1279) of China, one of the most able and humane rulers in Chinese history. Under him, the Song government...
Korean Neo-Confucian scholar
Chŏng To-jŏn was a Korean Neo-Confucian scholar who helped to overthrow the Koryŏ kingdom (918–1392 ce) and establish the Chosŏn kingdom (1392–1910). He was of a nonaristocratic family and promoted Confucian...
Korean scholar
Yi Saek was a Korean literary figure and Neo-Confucian scholar. Patronized by kings during the Koryo period (918–1392), he promoted an educational system based on the Confucian texts and was responsible...
Chinese philosopher
Zengzi was a Chinese philosopher, disciple of Confucius, traditionally believed to be the author of the Daxue (“Great Learning”). In this classic, which became a part of the Liji (“Collection of Rituals”)...
Chinese philosopher
Gu Yanwu was one of the most famous of the Ming dynasty loyalists, whose rationalist critiques of the useless book learning and metaphysical speculations of neo-Confucian philosophy (which had been the...
Japanese philosopher
Kaibara Ekken was a neo-Confucian philosopher, travel writer, and pioneer botanist of the early Tokugawa period (1603–1867) who explicated the Confucian doctrines in simple language that could be understood...
Japanese scholar
Muro Kyūsō was a noted Japanese Confucian scholar who, as a leading government official, helped propagate the philosophy of the famous Chinese Confucian thinker Zhu Xi (1130–1200). Muro interpreted Zhu...
Japanese scholar
Ogyū Sorai was one of the foremost Japanese scholars of Chinese culture and a leading Confucianist. Ogyū stressed the pragmatic application of Confucianism to promote social and political reforms by means...
Chinese philosopher
Dai Zhen was a Chinese empirical philosopher, considered by many to have been the greatest thinker of the Qing period (1644–1911/12). Born to poor parents, Dai educated himself by reading borrowed books....
Japanese economist and philosopher
Miura Baien was a Japanese economist and Confucianist philosopher during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867). He formulated the jōrigaku (“rationalist studies”) doctrine, which was a precursor to modern scientific...
Japanese imperial tutor
Danshaku Motoda Nagazane was an imperial tutor responsible for the conservative tone of the Japanese Imperial Rescript on Education (Oct. 30, 1890). Placed in every school throughout Japan until 1945,...
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