 Whereas early generations of Zhu’s followers were acquainted with his broad learning, incisive style, and open spirit, Confucians of the Ming and Qing dynasties knew him mostly through his edition of the Four Books, through which they targeted their criticisms of his thought. Zhu’s most eminent critic was the Ming scholar-official Wang Yangming (1472–1529). He rejected Zhu’s approach to observation as too objective and open-ended, as outward and diffuse and neglectful of concentration and inwardness. It could be said that, in his criticisms, Wang was reacting more to the scholastic attitudes fostered by the examination system than to Zhu Xi himself. Wang ultimately respected Zhu and went on to compile a text in which he argued that, in later life, Zhu’s thought had taken a  a subjective, practical turn that anticipated Wang’s approach.