Neo-confucianism applies to modern time

Yangming in Youth

Wang Yangming (1472-1529) was a Chinese idealist Neo-Confucian philosopher during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Born into a scholarly family in Zhejiang province, he spent his childhood reading and gaining proficiency in the martial arts.

Wang went to Beijing to attend school when he was 12 and passed the imperial examination at the age of 28.

Life in Guizhou

At the age of 35, because of a protest by a eunuch, he was demoted to Xiuwen, a rather backward place at the time. It was here that he set up his famous philosophy school and took the opportunity to deliver lectures to local people.

One of Wang's principles, the doctrine of "the unity of knowing and acting", states that knowledge and action should be combined, and that one can only acquire knowledge through simultaneous action.

The "knowledge" he speaks of in this principle refers to the knowledge that comes from heart rather than from external influences.

Wang also developed the notion of "idea knowing", which states that every person is capable of discerning right from wrong from birth. He claimed that such knowledge is intuitive and not rational.

His theory of benevolence, derived from Confucianism, says that as component parts of the world, every person should maintain close relationships with other people and be aware of their actions.

Another Ming Dynasty philosopher, Huang Zongxi, acclaimed Wang's theories as "the greatest accomplishment since Confucius and Mencius".

The modern Chinese philosopher Xiong Shili claimed that Wang's principles were still relevant and important, even after the passage of centuries.

Tu Weiming, a Chinese-American scholar in Confucius Studies described Wang as one of the greatest teachers of Confucian principles.

Sun Yat-sen, revered as China's "father of the nation", was also heavily influenced by Wang's theories.