Hu Yuan (Chinese: 胡瑗, 993–1059),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Yizhi (Chinese: 翼之). Born in Hailing, Taizhou (today's Taizhou,

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

). Since he lived in the Fort Anding in the modern-day

Zichang County Zichang () is a city in the north of Shaanxi province ( Shaanbei), China. It is the northernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Yan'an. Zichang had a population of 273,000 as of 2017, of which, 115,000 lived in urban area ...

, he was also called "Mr. Anding" (Chinese: 安定先生, ''Ān dìng xiān sheng''). An educator from the

Northern Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...

, he was considered one of the so-called "Three masters of the beginning of the Song dynasty" (宋初三先生). As an educator, he privileged the understating of the substance and function (Chinese: 體用) and literature (Chinese: 文) as the way of the Confucian sages. He was also considered one of the forerunners of

Neo-Confucianism Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, which originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) i ...

, was a teacher of Cheng Yi, and wrote a comment on the

Yijing The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...

Zhu Xi Zhu Xi ( zh, c=朱熹; ; October 18, 1130April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confuci ...

regarded him as a relatively important Confucian of the Song dynasty He was the ancestor of

Hu Dunfu Hu Dunfu (; 1886 – December 1, 1978) was a Chinese mathematician and pioneer in higher education. He won a Qing dynasty, Qing government scholarship to study at Cornell University, and became the first dean of Tsinghua University at the age of ...

, a modern Chinese mathematician.

References

Song dynasty philosophers 993 births 1059 deaths Song dynasty classicists {{China-bio-stub