Zhu Xi

Also known as Zi Yuanhui · Hao Huiweng · Kaoting Xiansheng · Wen Gong · Zhu Zi · Zi Zhonghui

Zhu Xi, courtesy names Yuanhui and Zhonghui, styled Hui'an and in old age Huiweng, came from a family of Wuyuan in Huizhou and was born at Youxi in Nanjianzhou. He passed the jinshi examination in 1148 and later studied with Li Tong, a third-generation follower of Cheng Yi, going on to systematize the teachings of the Cheng brothers. He served as registrar of Tong'an and as prefect of Nankang, Zhangzhou and Tanzhou; at Nankang he restored the White Deer Grotto Academy and drew up its rules. In 1194 he was called to lecture to Emperor Ningzong but was dismissed after little more than forty days, and in the Qingyuan ban that followed his teaching was condemned as false learning. He died at Kaoting in Jianyang in 1200 and was later granted the posthumous name Wen. In 1313 the Yuan court made his *Collected Commentaries on the Four Books* (*Sishu zhangju jizhu*) the basis of the civil examinations.