An Guo (; 1481–1534 AD), was a Chinese

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer ( fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * Jame ...

, and

antique An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

collector from

Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city ar ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

Province during the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

(1368-1644 AD). He was considered one of the wealthiest persons throughout the Ming Dynasty. An Guo is best known for improving the techniques of bronze

movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuatio ...

, and his broad collection of antiques and art pieces. Due to the large amount of money and land in his possession, he was nicknamed "Millionaire An" (安百万).

Charity

After An Guo became extremely wealthy, he started helping the locals with preventing attacks and burglaries from Wokou (倭寇), by providing financial support to the military of the Ming dynasty, as well as sponsoring the construction of defensive walls. Also, he rebuilt and maintained a shrine by establishing a joint estate using some of his own land, and constructed a huge pleasure garden, which was later named Xi Lin (西林, West Garden), to provide work opportunities to those who were in poverty because of a severe famine.

Personal life

An Guo was born in 1481 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, whose father was a landlord. When An Guo's father passed away, he succeeded to half of his father's land, which was approximately 50 acres. An Guo loved sweet olive so much, that he planted sweet olives for about 1 mile from his house. Therefore, his art name (''hao'' in Mandarin, ) is "Guì Puō" (桂坡), which means "sweet olives on a hillslope" in Chinese. An Guo's printing house is named, "Gui Puo House" (桂坡馆). At the peak of his powers, An Guo was estimated to own 1 million acres of land located in today's

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, Changzhou, etc.

Family

An Guo had seven sons, An Rushan (安如山; 1503-1570), An Rupan (安如磐; 1507-1568), An Rushi (安如石; 1513–1564), An Ruyue (安如岳), An Rujing (安如京), An Rugang (安如岡), and An Ruling (安如陵). Though An Guo himself never achieved any rank or degree in the Chinese

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

(科舉), his eldest son An Rushan, grandson An Xifan (安希范; 1564-1621), and great grandson An Guangju (安广居; 1593-1644) all received

jinshi ''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes referre ...

(進士) degrees. An Guo's grandson, An Xifan, who was the second son of An Rushan, was one of the main leaders of the

Donglin Movement The Donglin movement () was an ideological and philosophical movement of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties of China. The movement was established in 1604, during the Wanli era of Ming, when Gu Xiancheng (1550–1612), a Grand Secretary, and ...

, and a co-founder of the Donglin Academy.

References

1481 births 1534 deaths People from Wuxi Chinese printers 16th-century Chinese businesspeople {{China-bio-stub