Gu Yawu

Author: Chen Yi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: Given the significant impact of Confucianism on China and the world, the motivation behind the "Great Confucian Masters" series is to present and depict Confucianism in the form of biographies, using specific Confucian scholars as focal points to interpret the trajectory of Confucianism. Accordingly, after careful consideration and discussion, it was decided to set the timeline as ancient times and limit the selection to ten or eleven individuals. These eleven figures are: Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, Dong Zhongshu, Cheng Yi, Cheng Hu, Zhu Xi, Wang Shouren, Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi, and Wang Fuzhi. The specific titles of the books are based on the common appellation of the subject. Of course, the final selection of these individuals was not easy and required considerable deliberation and effort.
Gu Yanwu was an accomplished scholar who, after the decline of Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism, benefited greatly from the influence of the late Ming practical learning movement. Throughout his life, he remained committed to the principle of applying knowledge to governance and practical use. With a rigorous and diligent scholarly approach and a pragmatic method of empirical induction, he extensively engaged in classics, history, local gazettes, geographical studies, phonology and script, epigraphy and archaeology, as well as literary and textual studies. In numerous academic fields, he achieved remarkable accomplishments and left behind nearly fifty valuable works.