Hu Yuan Explained

Hu Yuan (Chinese: 胡瑗, 993-1059), courtesy name Yizhi (Chinese: 翼之).^[1] Born in Hailing, Taizhou (today's Taizhou, Jiangsu). Since he lived in the Fort Anding in the modern-day Zichang County, he was also called "Mr. Anding" (Chinese: 安定先生, Ān dìng xiān sheng).

An educator from the Northern Song Dynasty, 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 sages.^[2]

He was also considered one of the forerunners of Neo-Confucianism, was a teacher of Cheng Yi, and wrote a comment on the Yijing.^[3] Zhu Xi regarded him as a relatively important Confucian of the Song Dynasty^[4]

He was the ancestor of Hu Dunfu.

Notes and References

1. Book: 太常博士致仕胡君墓誌,端明集 . 巻三十七 . 28 November 2021.
2. Book: Chu . Ming-kin . The politics of higher education : the Imperial University in Northern Song China . 2020 . Hong Kong . 9789888528196 . 57 .
3. Book: Hon . Tze-ki . The Yijing and Chinese Politics: Classical Commentary and Literati Activism in the Northern Song Period, 960-1127 . 2012 . SUNY Press . 978-0-7914-8400-5 . 49 . en . "For many of his biographers, Hu Yuan was a forerunner of the Cheng-Zhu school of Daoxue, worthy to be called a "master of the early Northern Song." He is best known for being Cheng Yi's teacher at the Imperial Academy in Kaifeng, showing his brilliant student how to pursue true Confucian learning. Also, he is described as a man of action, who made significant contributions in reforming the school system and the court musical instruments. (...) The image of Hu Yuan as a serious thinker is particularly clear in his commentary on the Yijing, the Zhouyi kouyi.
4. Book: Bol . Peter . De Bary . William Theodore . Chu Hsi's Redefinition of Literati Learning . January 1989 . 161 . University of California Press . 9780520063938 . English.