Zhu Xi

Life

His life dates are generally given as 1130–1200, but the exact dates are disputed: one account gives 15 September 1130 to 23 April 1200, while another gives 25 October 1130 as his birth date and places his death between 25 January 1200 and 11 February 1201.

Zhu Xi was the son of Zhu Song; his grandfather was Zhu Sen, his great-grandfather was Zhu Xun, and his mother was Lady Zhu. His wife was Liu; his sons were 朱塾, 朱埜, and 朱在, and his sons-in-law included Huang Gan and Liu Xuegu.

In Gaozong’s eighteenth year of the Shaoxing era (1148), he passed the jinshi examination and was appointed assistant magistrate of Tongan in Quanzhou. The examination register places him ninth in the fifth class; after completing the appointment, he returned home, requested a shrine post, served as supervisor of the Nanyue Temple in Tanzhou, and spent more than two decades writing and lecturing.

Under Xiaozong, he held posts including 秘書郎, 知南康軍, 直秘閣, the intendancies of the Jiangxi and Liangzhedong circuits for the examination of常平茶鹽, 江西提刑, and 秘閣修撰. In the fifth year of the Chunxi era he became governor of Nankang and rebuilt Bailudong Academy; in the eighth year he took charge of the Liangzhedong 常平茶鹽 office, and during a great famine in eastern Zhejiang he travelled through the region in a single carriage to relieve the famine and correct abuses.

When Guangzong succeeded to the throne, Zhu Xi became governor of Zhangzhou and held the post of 秘閣修撰; in the fourth year of the Shaoxi era (1193), he became governor of Tanzhou and concurrently an pacification commissioner for Jinghunan Circuit, repairing Yuelu Academy during his tenure. In the fifth year of Shaoxi he was appointed 煥章閣待制兼侍講, but was dismissed that same year, returned to Kaoting in Fujian, and lectured at Ziyang Academy while continuing to write.

After Ningzong’s accession, he was appointed 煥章閣待制兼侍講 and soon took charge of Nanjing Hongqing Palace; in the second year of the Qingyuan era (1196), Han Tuozhou’s faction imposed the prohibition of the so-called false learning, and Zhu Xi lost his office and shrine appointment. His career also included the titles 轉運副使 and 寶文閣待制.

He died in the sixth year of Qingyuan (1200), at the age of seventy-one. In the second year of Jiading (1209) he received the posthumous name Wen, also rendered Wengong; in the first year of Chunyou (1241) he was enshrined in the Confucian temple, and during the Lizong era he was posthumously made Grand Tutor and given the title Duke of Huiguo.

Thought and teaching

Zhu Xi studied under Li Tong, received the transmission of Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, and drew on the teachings of Zhou Dunyi and Zhang Zai; he came to be regarded as the great synthesizer of Northern Song learning. His school was called the Min School, the Kaoting School, or the Cheng-Zhu School; at Yungu in Jianyang he built the thatched hall called Huian and lectured there, and was consequently known as the master of the Kaoting School.

He directed Bailudong and Yuelu academies, lectured for more than fifty years, and attracted many disciples. He spent most of his life writing and teaching: he served as a local official for only seven and a half years and spent even less time at court.

His friends included Chao Gongwu, Wang Yan, Chen Liang, Lu Jiuyuan, Lü Zuqian, Zhang Shi, and Cai Yuanding. His thought occupies an important place in the history of Chinese philosophy and has had broad international influence.

Works

His writings and editorial compilations include 《四書章句集注》, 《周易本義》, 《詩集傳》, 《楚辭集注》, 《近思錄》, 《伊洛淵源錄》, and 《資治通鑑綱目》. 《四書章句集注》 consists of nineteen juan, 《楚辭集注》 of eight, 《近思錄》 of fourteen, and 《資治通鑑綱目》 of fifty-nine.

《朱子語類》 was compiled by later editors and is listed in a 140-juan form; Zhu Xi also wrote 《晦庵詞》. His collected writings comprise one hundred juan, with an eleven-juan continuation and a ten-juan separate collection; they continued to be supplemented and printed from the late Song through the Ming and Qing periods.

Other works on academy regulations include 《白鹿書院教規》 and 《朱子白鹿洞規條》.