Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi, whose family originated in Wuyuan County, Huizhou (in modern Jiangxi province), was born in Fujian, where his father worked as the subprefectural sheriff. After his father was forced from office due to his opposition to the government appeasement policy towards the Jurchen in 1140, Zhu Xi received instruction from his father at home.Many anecdotes attest that he was a highly precocious child. It was recorded that at age five he ventured to ask what lay beyond Heaven, and by eight he understood the significance of the Classic of Filiality (Xiaojing). As a youth, he was inspired by Mencius’ proposition that all people could become a sage. Upon his father's death in 1143, he studied with his father's friends Hu Xian, Liu Zihui, and Liu Mianzhi. In 1148, at the age of 19, Zhu Xi passed the Imperial Examination and became a presented scholar. Zhu Xi's first official dispatch position was as Subprefectural Registrar of Tong'an (同安縣主簿), which he served from 1153 - 1156. From 1153 he began to study under Li Tong, who followed the Neo-Confucian tradition of Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, and formally became his student in 1160.
Zhu Xicai
Little is known about Zhu Xicai's background, and it is not known when he was born. According to the Tang Dynasty historian Ping Zhimei (平致美), whose "Jimen Jiluan" (薊門紀亂) is no longer extant but is often cited in other works, he served under Shi Chaoyi, the final emperor of the state of Yan during the An Shi Rebellion against Tang Dynasty rule, and, after Shi Chaoyi had become emperor after assassinating his father Shi Siming in 761, the Yan general remaining at the major city of Fanyang (范陽, in modern Beijing) went through major bloody infighting, at the end of which Li Huaixian emerged the victor. Zhu Xicai was then serving under Li, and he remained at Fanyang to continue to serve under Li after the disturbance. After Li submitted to Emperor Daizong of Tang in 763 and turned against Shi Chaoyi (leading to Shi Chaoyi's committing suicide, ending Yan), Zhu continued to serve under Li.