Scholars › Philosopher / Thinker
Fang Yizhi
Tongcheng polymath and late Ming Hanlin scholar who became a monk after the fall of the dynasty and wrote the encyclopedic Wuli xiaoshi and Tongya
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 Mizhi · Fu Shan
Fang Yizhi, courtesy name Mizhi, came from Tongcheng in Anhui and was the son of the Huguang governor Fang Kongzhao. When his father was impeached by Yang Sichang and jailed, he petitioned for him in a memorial written in blood, and in 1640 he gained his jinshi and became a Hanlin examiner. Captured and tortured by Li Zicheng's men when Beijing fell in 1644, he refused to serve them, escaped south, and drifted into Guangxi selling medicine under a false name. He briefly served the Yongli court and then withdrew; seized by Qing troops at Pingle, he chose death over office and was allowed to become a monk, taking the name Hongzhi. Of his many books the Tongya and the Wuli xiaoshi, Notes on the Principles of Things, circulated most widely. He died in 1671 on his way to Ji'an to visit the tomb of Wen Tianxiang; one account says he drowned himself in the Huangkong rapids at Wan'an.
Life and times
Dates 1611 CE–1671 CE