11 Facts About Zhen Dexiu

Zhen Dexiu was a Chinese politician and philosopher during the Southern Song dynasty.

Zhen Dexiu held a number of court positions, including Prefect of Quanzhou, Vice Minister of Rites, Minister of Revenue and eventually Vice Counsellor.

Zhen Dexiu was widely regarded among his peers as the successor to Zhu Xi's teaching, and was able to overturn the ban on the Cheng-Zhu school implemented during Han's premiership.

Zhen Dexiu had not returned to the central government until Shi died.

Zhen Dexiu died in the year of 1235, several years after his return to the court.

Zhen Dexiu was a student of Zhan Tiren, but adapted Zhan's philosophy to incorporate doctrinal elements of Daoism and Buddhism, modernising it and making it more palatable to the politicians of his day.

Zhen Dexiu included elements of Lu Jiuyuan's "School of the Universal Mind", despite the rivalry between this school and Zhu Xi's.

Zhen Dexiu's works continued to be influential long after his death; more than a century later, Song Lian was recommending Zhan's work to the Hongwu Emperor, the first of the Ming dynasty, who was so impressed that he had the text of Zhan's Expanded Meaning of the Great Learning copied onto the walls of his palace so he could review it daily.

Zhen Dexiu believed that the moral rectification of one's own spirit was the foundation of correct rulership, and felt that it was the duty of the court to encourage the ruler's efforts in personal moral improvement.

Zhen Dexiu touched on literary criticism with his Writings of the Orthodox School, which addressed literature from a Daoist perspective.

Unlike other literary critiques of the time, which classified writings in to as many as 100 categories, Zhen Dexiu felt that there were only four major categories of literature: instruction, discussion, narration and poetry.