Gu Xiancheng (; 1550–1612) was a

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 ...

Chinese bureaucrat and educator who founded 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 ...

. He was born in

Jiangnan Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...

, to a mercantile family, and from an early age was tutored in the

Chinese classics Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucian ...

. He quickly rejected the Yaojiang school of

Wang Yangming Wang Shouren (, 26 October 1472 – 9 January 1529), courtesy name Bo'an (), art name Yangmingzi (), usually referred to as Wang Yangming (), was a Chinese calligrapher, general, philosopher, politician, and writer during the Ming dynasty ...

, favouring the strong moral dichotomy of earlier

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

philosophers such as

Zhu Xi Zhu Xi (; ; October 18, 1130 – April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese calligrapher, historian, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. Zhu was influential in the development of Neo-Confucianism. He con ...

. A student of

Xue Yingqi Xue () is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname 薛 (Xuē). It is romanized as Hsüeh in Wade-Giles. In Hong Kong and Macau it is usually romanized through its Cantonese pronunciation Sit. In Korean, it corresponds to Seol (설), in Ja ...

, he held office as Grand Secretary in the Imperial Court. Together with his brother and his student Gao Panlong he rebuilt the Donglin ("East Forest") Academy in 1604, in the town of

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 ...

. The Donglin Charter was based on Zhu Xi's ''Articles of the White Deer Grotto'', and incorporated quotations from a number of Confucian classics. Gu required prospective entrants to have four key qualities, which he called the Four Essentials: students had to consider their fundamental nature, show firm resolve, respect the Classics and scrutinise their own motivation. Gu's Academy quickly attracted a large student base, and became a rallying point for dissent and criticism of the government, in the form of the

. The Academy was strongly critical of the notorious eunuch

Wei Zhongxian Wei Zhongxian (1568 – December 12, 1627), born Wei Si (魏四), was a Chinese court eunuch who lived in the late Ming dynasty. As a eunuch he used the name Li Jinzhong (李进忠). He is considered by most historians as the most notorious eunuc ...

, and as a result of Wei's persecution it was shut down in 1622; it reopened some years later after the eunuch's death.

References

{{Authority control Ming dynasty politicians Educators from Wuxi 1550 births 1612 deaths 16th-century Chinese people 17th-century Chinese people Politicians from Wuxi Donglin partisans