Zhu Xi was a leading scholar, thinker, and teacher of the revival of philosophical Confucianism known at the time as Daoxue (learning of the way), often referred to as neo-Confucianism. The prolific author of texts synthesizing the views of his immediate predecessors and reinterpreting the classical canon, Zhu Xi attained a status in the Chinese tradition comparable to that of Thomas Aquinas in the European world. Zhu's influence has been even more pervasive and long-lived, however; from 1313 until their abolition in 1905, China's civil service examinations took Zhu's commentaries to be the authoritative interpretations of the classics. Hence for nearly a millennium every literate individual in China had at least some familiarity with Zhu's teachings.

Zhu was born into turbulent times. In 1127 Jurchen people conquered northern China. Zhu's father was among many who protested the humiliating peace treaty that China was...