Localism of Daoxue in North China during the Yuan Dynasty: A Case Study of An Xi (1270–1311)

Abstract:The transmission of Daoxue, or Neo-Confucianism, during the Yuan Dynasty cannot be understood as a sharp dichotomy between reliance on state-sponsored institutions in North China and private ones in the south. Through the study of An Xi, who was a student and teacher of Daoxue, and his family from modern day Hebei, this article shows that private intellectual activities of Yuan Daoxue masters were influential locally in the north. Although An Xi has traditionally been recognized as a member of the Daoxue scholar Liu Yin's tradition, this article further argues that An Xi developed his own independent thinking and was not simply a follower of Liu Yin. An Xi was a self-taught Daoxue master who idolized Zhu Xi and took his teaching as the only standard. This self-taught model would later become more common in North China during the Ming Dynasty.