 For much of the Song-Ming period, Confucian thought and textual studies were a significant part of the lives of most adult males who had a formal education. Those who wanted a career in government service were required to memorize and produce learned essays on the Confucian classics for their civil service exams, and scholarly discourse was replete with discussions of and allusions to Confucian thought. The Song-Ming period was thus a particularly vibrant one for Confucian philosophy. Two of the earliest intellectual histories of this period describe the lives and thought of more than two thousand Confucians who played some significant role in shaping the tradition (SYXA; MRXA). What follows is a brief description of the philosophers who loom largest. In most cases these are the thinkers who had the greatest influence on Neo-Confucianism, although we will also see some who, while less influential historically, now attract a great deal of scholarly interest for their originality or sophistication.