Yan Ruoqu (; November 11, 1636 – July 9, 1704) was an influential Chinese scholar of the early

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. He was born to a scholarly family in

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

. Yan Ruoqu is most famous for proving that the " Old Text" chapters of the

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of Masterpiece, lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or Literary merit, highest quality, class, or rank – something that Exemplification, exemplifies its ...

Book of Documents The ''Book of Documents'' ( zh, p=Shūjīng, c=書經, w=Shu King) or the ''Classic of History'', is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of ancient China, a ...

'' were forgeries (see :zh:尚書古文疏證). He also made observations and theories about the motions of the Moon and the

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

s. Yan's work on the ''Classic of History'' was independently verified and praised by Hui Dong (1697-1758), the verification work was finished by him and Sun Xingyan.

Liang Qichao Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啓超; Wade–Giles: ''Liang2 Chʻi3-chʻao1''; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Lèuhng Kái-chīu''; ) (February 23, 1873 – January 19, 1929) was a Chinese politician, social and political activist, jour ...

praised Yan as being "number one textual scholar of the recent 300 years" (approx. translation from the Chinese Wiki quote 不能不認為近三百年學術解放之第一功臣, unreferenced). As such, he became an important precursor of the

Doubting Antiquity School The Doubting Antiquity School or Yigupai (Endymion Wilkinson, Wilkinson, Endymion (2000). ''Chinese History: A Manual''. Harvard Univ Asia Center. . Page 345, see/ref>Loewe, Michael and Edward L. Shaughnessy (1999). ''The Cambridge History of Anci ...

References

* 1636 births 1704 deaths Qing dynasty classicists Chinese geographers Philosophers from Shanxi Writers from Shanxi People from Taiyuan {{China-academic-bio-stub

See also

References