Cheng Yi

1033 CE – 1107 CE

Luoyang, Henan

Northern Song Neo-Confucian philosopher known as Yichuan whose rigorous account of li, investigation of things, reverent self-cultivation, moral psychology, and classical commentary shaped Zhu Xi, Cheng-Zhu learning, and later East Asian Confucian orthodoxy.

Confucius

551 BCE – 479 BCE

Zou, Lu (near Qufu, Shandong)

Ancient Chinese teacher from the state of Lu whose account of learning, ritual, humane conduct, music, names, family reverence, and virtuous government became the center of the Confucian tradition.

Dai Zhen

1724 CE – 1777 CE

Xiuning, Anhui

Qing Confucian evidential scholar from Xiuning whose work joined philology, moral psychology, language, desire, principle, and precise inquiry against empty abstraction.

Dao'an

312 CE – 385 CE

Changshan Commandery / Fuliu, Hebei

Chinese Buddhist organizer, exegete, and translation leader who shaped Prajnaparamita interpretation, monastic discipline, scripture cataloging, and the language of early Chinese Buddhism.

Dong Zhongshu

179 BCE – 104 BCE

Guangchuan / Wencheng, Hebei

Western Han Confucian thinker from Guangchuan, remembered for joining Gongyang classicism, Heaven-human resonance, yin-yang and Five Phases cosmology, moral rulership, and imperial Confucian policy.

Fazang

643 CE – 712 CE

Chang'an

Tang Huayan master who systematized Fazang's interpenetration metaphysics, teaching classifications, Golden Lion analogy, and Avatamsaka Buddhist philosophy.

Gongsun Long

325 BCE – 250 BCE

Zhao state region

Warring States School of Names philosopher of language, logic, names and actualities, white-horse paradox, hard-white distinction, reference, designation, and disputation.

Guo Xiang

252 CE – 312 CE

Henan region (Western Jin)

Western Jin Daoist philosopher and Zhuangzi commentator whose reading of spontaneous self-transformation, natural social roles, non-interference, and immanent order shaped the received Zhuangzi tradition.

Han Fei

280 BCE – 233 BCE

Han state (Xinzheng region)

Warring States Chinese Legalist philosopher and statesman whose Han Feizi synthesizes fa, shu, shi, xingming, rewards and punishments, human motivation, and impersonal standards into a classic theory of state power.

He Yan

190 CE – 249 CE

Nanyang Commandery, Henan region

Cao Wei scholar-official and xuanxue philosopher whose Lunyu jijie, Daolun, and Wuming lun connect Analects commentary, wu and namelessness, qingtan, governance by wuwei, and the emotionless-sage debate.

Hui Shi

380 BCE – 305 BCE

State of Song, probably the Shangqiu/Henan region

Warring States Chinese School of Names philosopher, disputer, and statesman whose lost Huizi tradition, Ten Theses, law-code story, and Zhuangzi dialogues shaped later debates about names, actualities, identity, difference, space, time, perspective, and public standards.

Huiyuan

334 CE – 416 CE

Loufan, Yanmen Commandery, Bingzhou, near modern Ningwu County, Shanxi

Eastern Jin Chinese Buddhist scholastic monk associated with Mount Lu, Donglin Temple, early Chinese Pure Land devotion, Prajnaparamita interpretation, karmic retribution, monastic autonomy from royal ritual, and the correspondence with Kumārajīva.

Kuiji

632 CE – 682 CE

Chang'an, Tang China

Tang Faxiang Yogācāra scholastic whose Consciousness-Only commentaries, Buddhist logic, scripture exegesis, and Cheng Weishi Lun Shuji shaped East Asian philosophy of mind, epistemology, language, and religion.

Li Si

280 BCE – 208 BCE

Shangcai, State of Chu, now Henan

Qin Legalist statesman whose memorials, centralized statecraft, and script-standardization work helped form the administrative language of the first Chinese empire.

Mencius (Mengzi)

372 BCE – 289 BCE

Zou, State of Lu

Classical Confucian philosopher whose account of xingshan, the four sprouts, ren, yi, moral cultivation, benevolent government, and people-centered legitimacy shaped East Asian ethics and political thought.

Mozi (Mo Di)

470 BCE – 391 BCE

State of Lu or State of Song, Warring States China

Warring States philosopher of Mohism, jian ai, impartial care, anti-aggression, meritocracy, frugality, Heaven, ghosts, standards, logic, optics, and siege defense.

Sengzhao

384 CE – 414 CE

Jingzhao (Chang'an region)

Chinese Buddhist philosopher from Jingzhao whose Zhaolun essays shaped early Chinese Madhyamaka through emptiness, nonduality, non-knowing wisdom, language, and nameless nirvana.

Shang Yang

390 BCE – 338 BCE

Wei state region

Chinese Legalist reformer whose Qin reforms and attributed Book of Lord Shang shaped early theories of law, state power, rewards, punishments, agriculture, and war.

Sima Qian

145 BCE – 86 BCE

Longmen (near present-day Hancheng)

Western Han historian and thinker whose Shiji joined ethical judgment, political memory, narrative biography, source criticism, cosmology, and historical method.

Wang Bi

226 CE – 249 CE

Shanyang Commandery, Cao Wei; exact site/source wording varies

Cao Wei philosopher of xuanxue whose Laozi and Zhouyi commentaries made nonbeing, Dao, principle, words, images, and meaning central to early medieval Chinese metaphysics and canonical interpretation.

Xuanzang

602 CE – 664 CE

Goushi or Chenliu near Luoyang, Henan, Tang China; source variants noted

Cistercian monk, abbot of Yogacara, and medieval Christian philosopher-theologian whose theology of love, humility, grace, free choice, mystical ascent, monastic ethics, scriptural exegesis, and ecclesial counsel shaped scholastic, monastic, and political theology.

Xunzi

313 BCE – 238 BCE

State of Zhao, north-central China; exact birthplace uncertain

Late Warring States Confucian philosopher whose received Xunzi corpus argues that learning, ritual, music, names, cultivated artifice, and institutions transform unruly human tendencies into moral and political order.

Zhang Zai

1020 CE – 1077 CE

Chang'an or Fengxiang region, Shaanxi; lived at Hengqu, Mei County

Northern Song Neo-Confucian philosopher of qi metaphysics whose account of Great Vacuity, Great Harmony, human nature, and universal kinship shaped Guanxue, Cheng-Zhu learning, and later Confucian moral cosmology.

Zhang Zhidong

1837 CE – 1909 CE

Xingyi, Guizhou, Qing China; ancestral home Nanpi, Zhili/Hebei

Late Qing Confucian statesman and reform thinker whose Zhongti Xiyong formula joined classical moral-political substance to Western practical learning, technology, schooling, and institutional modernization.

Zhi Qian

193 CE – 252 CE

Luoyang, Eastern Han China; later active at Jianye under Eastern Wu

Three Kingdoms Buddhist translator of Yuezhi ancestry whose Chinese renderings of Prajnaparamita, Vimalakirti, Pure Land, verse, and narrative scriptures shaped early Chinese Mahayana vocabulary and reception.

Zhuangzi

369 BCE – 286 BCE

Meng, state of Song, now near Shangqiu, Henan; exact site uncertain

Warring States Daoist philosopher whose received Zhuangzi tradition uses parable, skepticism, transformation, spontaneity, and perspectival reasoning to loosen fixed distinctions and reorient life toward wandering with dao.