Birth of Zhu Xi

Zhu Xi was born on 18 October 1130 in Youxi County. A Chinese philosopher of the Southern Song dynasty, Zhu Xi was the most influential figure of Neo-Confucianism. He combined ideas from earlier thinkers into a system in which the universe is made up of principle, li, and material force, qi, and he taught that moral understanding comes through the careful investigation of things and the study of the classics. He selected the Analects, the Mencius, the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean as the Four Books and wrote commentaries on them. After his death his interpretation became the basis of the imperial civil service examinations for centuries, shaping education in China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam. He also served as an official and teacher.

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