MUZIChinese Matrix
Scholars › Philosopher / Thinker
Southern Song scholar from Jinhua who co-edited Reflections on Things at Hand with Zhu Xi, brought Zhu and the Lu brothers together at Goose Lake, and compiled the anthology Song wenjian
A thatched pavilion open on three sides stands among tall bamboo; one person sits with their back turned at the veranda rail beside a zither and a stack of bamboo slips, while a stone path runs to a calm pond reflecting clouds and distant hills.
Also known as Zi Bogong · Donglai Xiansheng · Cheng Gong
Lu Zuqian, courtesy name Bogong, came from Jinhua in Wuzhou and belonged to the Donglai Lu family that had produced the Northern Song chief minister Lu Yijian; scholars called him Master Donglai. He passed the jinshi examination in 1163, also winning the special examination in broad learning, and served as an erudite of the Imperial University and as an editor in the state history office. In 1175 he visited Zhu Xi at the Hanquan retreat in Fujian, where they compiled Reflections on Things at Hand (Jinsi lu) together, and later that year he brought Zhu Xi and the brothers Lu Jiuling and Lu Jiuyuan together for a debate at the Goose Lake temple in Xinzhou. On Emperor Xiaozong's orders he compiled the Northern Song anthology Huangchao wenjian, and he also wrote the Donglai boyi and the Dashi ji. He taught at the Lize Academy in Jinhua, whose followers became known as the Wu school. He died in 1181 aged forty-five and was later given the posthumous name Cheng.
Dates 1137 CE–1181 CE
The Song History says Lü Zuqian worked on the Du shi ji and the Dashi ji, neither finished, and compiled the Huangchao wenjian at the court's request. He held posts as erudite in the Imperial University and as editor, and in later years met friends at the Lize Academy in Jinhua; he died aged forty-five.