Zhen Dexiu

Also known as Zi Jingyuan · Hao Xishan · Xishan Xiansheng · Shi Wenzhong · Zi Jingxi

Zhen Dexiu, courtesy name Jingyuan and later Jingxi, sobriquet Xishan, came from Pucheng in Jianzhou; he passed the jinshi examination in 1199 and the special examination for broad learning in 1205. In the Jiading years he served as court diarist and fiscal official in Jiangdong, writing repeatedly on frontier defence and policy, and later governed Quanzhou and Fuzhou. A follower of Zhu Xi, he wrote the *Extended Meaning of the Great Learning* (*Daxue yanyi*), which arranges classical and historical passages under the headings of the *Great Learning* to show how a ruler should cultivate himself and order his household, and presented it to Emperor Lizong in 1234. He became assistant chief councillor in 1235 and died the same year at fifty-eight, named Wenzhong. He also compiled the anthology *Wenzhang zhengzong*, and the first Ming emperor had the *Daxue yanyi* written on the walls of a palace hall so he could consult it.