Chen Hongmou courtesy name Ruzi (汝咨) and Rongmen (榕門), was a Chinese

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 official

Official

An official is someone who holds an office in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority .A government official or functionary is an official who is involved in public...

, scholar, and philosopher, who is widely regarded as a model official of the Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

.

Life

Chen was born in Lingui, Guangxi

Lingui County

Lingui County is a county administered by Guilin, Guangxi, China, and located midway between Guilin and Yangshuo. The county is mostly rural and hilly, marked by the same dramatic karst topography for which Guilin is famous.-History:...

, to a family who migrated from Chenzhou

Chenzhou

Chenzhou is a city located in the southern area of Hunan province, People's Republic of China. Its administrative area covers , 9.2% of the provincial area, and its total population reached 4,559,600 as of 2001, 26% of them living in urban areas, 74% of them live in rural areas.-History:Chenzhou...

 in Hunan

Hunan

' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...

 province in the late Ming dynasty

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

. He was noted for the longest total service and most provincial posts than any other official during the Qing dynasty

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

. In their work Anthology of Qing Statecraft Writings, He Changling

He Changling

He Changling , , courtesy name Ougen , was a Chinese scholar and official during the Qing Dynasty from Changsha, Hunan...

 and Wei Yuan

Wei Yuan

Wei Yuan , born Wei Yuanda , courtesy names Moshen and Hanshi , was a Chinese scholar from Shaoyang, Hunan. He moved to Yangzhou in 1831, where he remained for the rest of his life. Wei obtained the provincial degree in the Imperial examinations and subsequently worked in the secretariat of...

 praised him as an exemplary official, being surpassed only by Gu Yanwu

Gu Yanwu

Gu Yanwu , also known as Gu Tinglin , was a Chinese philologist and geographer. He spent his youth in anti-Manchu activities at a time when the Ming Dynasty had been overthrown. He never served the Qing Dynasty...

.

Philosophy

Chen considered himself a disciple of Zhu Xi

Zhu Xi

Zhū​ Xī​ or Chu Hsi was a Song Dynasty Confucian scholar who became the leading figure of the School of Principle and the most influential rationalist Neo-Confucian in China...

, but condemned various types of intellectual partisanship. His essays were very progressive for his time - in his vigorous advocation of education for people everywhere, he was one of the first philosophers to clearly state the idea that women and non-Chinese tribes could, and should, receive the same education as Han Chinese

Han Chinese

Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...

men.

Together with Gu Yanwu, He Changling, and Wei Yuan (mentioned above) he belongs to the "statecraft school" of the Chinese thought: its proponents advocated accommodation of the local administration to the changing social realities.

Further reading