Scholars › Philosopher / Thinker
Luo Hongxian
Jishui scholar who came first in the 1529 palace examination, was struck from the rolls for urging the heir's public audiences, and redrew Zhu Siben's map as the Guangyu tu
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 Dafu · Hao Nianan
Luo Hongxian, courtesy name Dafu, came from Jishui in Jiangxi. At fifteen he read Wang Shouren's Instructions for Practical Living (Chuanxi lu) and longed to study with him, but his father refused. He took first place in the palace examination of 1529 and became a compiler in the Hanlin Academy, but soon asked leave to go home. Recalled in 1539 as an admonisher in the heir apparent's household, he joined Tang Shunzhi and Zhao Shichun the next winter in asking that the crown prince receive the court's New Year greetings, and the Jiajing emperor, reading this as a forecast of his own death, struck all three from the rolls. Luo never served again: he sat in meditation for three years in a cave he named Shilian, disputed Wang Ji's view of innate knowing, and redrew and enlarged the Yuan geographer Zhu Siben's map as the Guangyu tu. He died in 1564 and was posthumously made vice-minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments early in the Longqing reign.
Life and times
Dates 1504 CE–1564 CE