Wang Chong

A thinker from the Later Han Dynasty in China. His courtesy name was Zhongren. He was from Shangyu, Kuaiji County (Zhejiang Province). He hated the falsehoods of the world and wrote the 30-volume Lunheng, which examines the truth of various theories. He was from a family of wandering chivalrous men, and lived in Shangyu to escape his enemies. He was educated in ethics from an early age, and later went to the capital to study under Ban Biao (3-54, father of Ban Gu, author of the Book of Han). After more than ten years of hard work, he returned home. He became a local official, but disagreed with his superiors and was repeatedly promoted and withdrawn. In the last years of Emperor Zhang's reign (75-88), he was drafted at the recommendation of his friend Xie Yiwu, but gave up due to changes in the situation at the central government. He wrote the "Book on Cultivating Nature" and ended his life in obscurity. He inherited the critical spirit of Huan Tan and criticized the evils of the time, but his theories on birth, fate, and the absence of ghosts influenced the thought of the Wei and Jin dynasties, as well as the Tang and Song dynasties.

[Takao Okubo January 19, 2016]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、後漢(ごかん)の思想家。字(あざな)は仲任(ちゅうじん)。会稽(かいけい)郡上虞(じょうぐ)（浙江(せっこう)省）の人。世の虚妄(きょもう)を憎み、諸説の真偽をただした『論衡(ろんこう)』30巻がある。遊侠(ゆうきょう)の家柄で、怨仇(おんきゅう)を逃れ上虞に住む。幼時から礼教的教養を身につけ、のちに上京し、班彪(はんぴょう)（3―54、『漢書(かんじょ)』の著者班固(はんこ)の父）に師事、十数年の苦学ののち帰郷。地方官吏となるが、上司と意見があわず、進退を繰り返した。章帝（在位75～88）の晩年、友人謝夷吾(しゃいご)の推挙により召徴されるが、中央での状況の変化により断念。『養性の書』を著し、不遇のなかに生を終えた。桓譚(かんたん)の批判精神を継承し時弊を指弾したが、その生成、運命、無鬼の論は、魏晋(ぎしん)の思想や唐宋(とうそう)思想に影響を与えた。

［大久保隆郎　2016年1月19日］

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