 Zhu Xi posits an ontological and causal continuity between the celestial and terrestrial realms, as well as between the animal and plant species and humanity. Indeed, there is no categorical difference between human beings and other life forms. Against this backdrop, Zhu carefully observed anomalies and sketched explanations based on the general ideas available to him. For example, when observing fossils of seashells atop a mountain, Zhu noted that the area had once been a seabed and hypothesized that the earth formerly was softer and more fluid and that, through wave motions, this seabed later rose to become a mountain top. Meanwhile, the entire earth dried as it grew older. While this explanation was not rigorous or determinate enough to count as a scientific hypothesis; Zhu appealed only to naturalistic concepts and principles in his comments. Zhu also made quantitative measurements of plant growth. Zhu once heard about a monk’s claim that oould see evidence of the nourishing powers of “night vapor” by observing bamboo sprouts, which grow twice as fast at night as during the day. Later, during a stay at a Buddhist residence on Jade Mountain, Zhu observed that the bamboo sprouts there displayed the “same rate of growth day and night, exactly the opposite of the monk’s claim”. Qian Mu observes that Zhu’s practice of gewu (investigating things) was fruitful because he made observations with questions or hypotheses in mind, adding that Wang Shouren’s observations of bamboo had been fruitless and in vain because he had no question or hypothesis in mind to test. Wang was just undertaking bland looking (Qian 1986: 215f, 219).