Yan Yuan (Qing dynasty)

He founded the practical school of Confucianism to contrast with the more ethereal Neo-Confucianism that had been popular in China for the previous six centuries.

However, he considered Han learning as too obsessed with philology and textual criticism and not enough emphasis on pragmatism.

He was born on April 27, 1635, in the Zhili province (now called Hebei) in China and spent his youth in poverty, after his father was taken into the Qing army and never returned.

The ideas of Yan Yuan were developed by his disciple Li Gong zh:李塨 (Yan-Li school).

Yan's intellectual heritage was addressed by Wu Han in the 20th century.