A thinker who takes the rise and fall of the world as his own responsibility
Overview
Chinese Name: 顾炎武
English Name: Gu Yanwu
Other Names: Gu Jikun 顾继绅, Gu Jiang 顾绛
Born: July 15, 1613
Died: 1682
Achievements:
Open the atmosphere of plain learning 开朴学风气
Put forward the thought of being practical and saving the world 提出经世致用、明道救世思想
Main Works:
Rizhilu 《日知录》
Beneficial Sickness Book of Counties under Heaven 《天下郡国利病书》
Zhaoyu Annals 《肇域志》
Brief Biography of Gu Yanwu
Gu Yanwu was a thinker and scholar in the late Ming 明朝 and early Qing Dynasties.
He was born in Kunshan 昆山, Nanzhili 南直隶. His courtesy name is Zhongqing 忠清. Later, he was renamed Yanwu 炎武. He lives in Tinglin Town 亭林镇 and is honored as Mr. Tinglin 亭林先生 by scholars. He, together with Huang Zongxi 黄宗羲 and Wang Fuzhi 王夫之, was called the Third Mister of the Early Qing Dynasty, and Tang Zhen 唐甄 was called the “Four Great Enlightenment Thinkers” at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty.
He was a Zhusheng 诸生 in the late Ming Dynasty. When he was young, he joined Fushe 复社, read the residence newspaper, and paid attention to the affairs of the world. At the age of 27, he was dethroned in the autumn exam and retired to study. He read all the annals of prefectures and counties and studied the actual social problems such as territory, situation, water conservancy, military defense, property, taxes, etc.
In the first year of Hongguang 弘光’s reign (1645, the second year of Shunzhi 顺治’s reign in the Qing Dynasty), Qing soldiers failed in Nanjing 南京. He changed his name to Yanwu and took part in the anti-Qing activities in Kunshan. After the failure, he left his hometown and traveled north to and from Lu, Yan, Jin, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces. During the Kangxi period, he was recommended to revise Ming History. Later, he lived in Huayin 华阴, Shanxi Province 陕西省. Finally, he died and was buried in Kunshan Qiandun 千墩.
Personal Life and Major Contributions
Early study
Gu Yanwu was born in Qiandeng Town 千灯镇, Kunshan, on July 15, 1613, the 41st year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. He was originally the son of Gu Tongying 顾同应. Gu Yanwu later became the son of Gu Tongji 顾同吉 as his heir. His widowed mother was the daughter of Wang Qiu 王逑. She weaved during the day and read at night until 2’o clock. She raised Gu Yanwu independently and taught him the loyalty of Yue Fei 岳飞, Wen Tianxiang 文天祥, and Fang Xiaoru 方孝孺.
Gu Yanwu became a close friend of his classmate Gui Zhuang 归庄 when he was 14 years old and became a qualified student. When they were eighteen years old, they went to Nanjing to take the Yingtian Rural Examination and joined the Fushe. The two men are special in their personalities.
Since the age of 27, he categorically abandoned the study of imperial examination, read all the historical records, prefectures, and counties, compiled records about farmland, water conservancy, minerals, transportation, etc., and began to write the “Book of Beneficial Diseases of Counties and Counties under Heaven 天下郡国利病书” and “Zhaoyu Annals 肇域志” with the materials of geographical evolution.
In February of the 14th year of Chongzhen (1641), his grandfather Gu Shaofu 顾绍芾 died of illness. In the summer of 1643 (the 16th year of Chongzhen’s reign), he became the national son’s supervisor by donating money.
Refuse to assist Qing Dynasty many times
On New Year’s Day, the 14th year of Shunzhi (1657), Gu Yanwu paid a visit to the Ming Xiaoling Tomb. For seven years, Yanwu visited the Ming Xiaoling Tomb six times to express his thoughts about his hometown. Then he returned to Kunshan and sold all his possessions. From then on, he left his hometown and never returned.
In the 16th year of Shunzhi’s reign (1659), Yanwu went to the Shanhaiguan 山海关 to hang on the ancient battlefield. For more than 20 years, Yanwu was alone and could not be traced. His footprints covered Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi, and Henan. During this time, he made many like-minded friends.
Academic ideology
Gu Yanwu is known as the originator of “the founder of Confucianism” and “the founder of learning in the Qing Dynasty”. He is a famous Confucian scholar, historian and geographer, and phonologist. He is knowledgeable and has deep attainments in Confucian classics, historiography, phonology, primary school, epigraphy, geography, poetry, and prose. He has made contributions to the past and the future and has become an outstanding master to start a generation of academic initiatives.
He inherited the anti-Neo Confucianism trend of thought of scholars in the Ming Dynasty, not only cleared up Lu Wang’s theory of mind, but also showed a different academic purpose from Cheng Zhu’s theory in many areas, such as nature and the way of heaven, regulating qi, Tao instruments, knowing and doing, and the way of heaven and human desire.
[…] Zongxi, Gu Yanwu 顾炎武, Wang Fuzhi 王夫之, and Tang Zhen 唐甄 were called “the four great enlightenment […]