Zhu Xi

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/zhu-xi

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was Zhu Xi born?October 18, 1130
2. When did Zhu Xi die?April 23, 1200
3. Where was Zhu Xi born?Wuyuan County, Huizhou (modern Jiangxi province), Southern Song dynasty, China
4. What is the career?Philosopher, Neo-Confucian scholar, historian, politician, poet, calligrapher, and influential educator
5. Who was Zhu Xi?Zhu Xi was a very smart thinker from China who lived from 1130 to 1200. He helped create a new way of thinking called Neo-Confucianism that guided people for many years.
6. What is Neo-Confucianism?It is a blend of old Confucian ideas with new thoughts about the world. Zhu Xi made it a clear guide for learning, being kind, and running a good government.

Neo-Confucianism: A philosophical and spiritual tradition that emerged in China, synthesizing traditional Confucian ethics with metaphysical and cosmological concepts.
Four Books: A foundational collection of Confucian texts (Analects, Mencius, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean) extensively interpreted by Zhu Xi, forming the core of orthodox Confucian learning.
Investigation of Things (格物, Gewu): Zhu Xi's epistemological principle advocating for the detailed study and examination of phenomena to understand underlying principles and achieve moral knowledge.
Li (理) and Qi (氣): Core Neo-Confucian metaphysical concepts representing principle/pattern (Li) and vital force/material substance (Qi), which together explain the structure and dynamism of the cosmos.