Zhu Xi

Zhu Xi or Chu Hsi (1130-1200), major figure in Chinese philosophy and a founder of Neo-Confucianism. The son of a local official in Youxi, Fujian province, China, Zhu Xi passed the highest grade of the government civil service examination at 18, half the average age of other candidates. He ended his first term of government duty in 1158 and for the next ten years deepened his knowledge of Confucianism, building on the existing rationalistic School of Principle and writing voluminously. In 1177 he completed his tremendously influential commentaries on Mencius and the Lun Yu (Analects) of Confucius.

Reappointed to office in 1179, Zhu Xi persistently criticized government corruption and remained low in the bureaucratic hierarchy. He refounded the Confucian White Deer Grotto Academy in Jianxi province, which became the foremost center for Confucian studies in East Asia. He transformed Confucianism, restructuring it around the metaphysical doctrine of the two elements developed by his predecessors in the School of Principle. According to this doctrine, all natural objects are composed of two forces: li, the universal principle or law; and qi (ch'i) the substance the object is made of.

Zhu Xi died in disgrace, barred from politics as a result of the schemes of his enemies. However, in the 14th century a curriculum developed by him was adopted as standard for the government examinations. In addition, his reformed Confucianism became the dominant creed of China and Korea, exercising considerable influence in Japan and elsewhere.