Zhan Ruoshui

Also known as Zi Yuanming · Hao Ganquan

Zhan Ruoshui, courtesy name Yuanming, styled Ganquan, came from Zengcheng near Guangzhou. After passing the provincial examination in 1492 he went to study with Chen Xianzhang and had no wish for office, but at his mother's bidding he sat the metropolitan examination and became a jinshi in 1505, entering the Hanlin Academy as a compiler. There he formed a friendship with Wang Yangming, who was then teaching while serving in the Ministry of Personnel, and the two lectured in concert. He later served in Nanjing as minister of personnel, of rites and of war before retiring in old age. His teaching held that heavenly principle must be recognised in every situation as it arises, a position distinct from Wang's extension of innate knowledge, and people spoke of the schools of Wang and Zhan together; wherever he went he founded academies with shrines to Chen Xianzhang. He died in 1560 at ninety-four, still travelling to Nanjing at the age of ninety.