Zhu Xi
In 1179, after not serving in an official capacity since 1156, Zhu Xi was appointed Prefect of Nankang Military District (南康軍), where he revived White Deer Grotto Academy. and got demoted three years later for attacking the incompetency and corruption of some influential officials. There were several instances of receiving an appointment and subsequently being demoted. Upon dismissal from his last appointment, he was accused of numerous crimes and a petition was made for his execution. Much of this opposition was headed by Han Tuozhou, the Prime Minister, who was a political rival of Zhu's. Even though his teachings had been severely attacked by establishment figures, almost a thousand brave people attended his funeral. After the death of Han Tuozhou, Zhu's successor Zhen Dexiu, together with Wei Liaoweng, made Zhu's branch of Neo-Confucianism the dominant philosophy at the Song Court.
Zhuangzi (book)
The "Zhuangzi" is named for and attributed to Zhuang Zhouusually known as "Master Zhuang" (Chinese: "Zhuangzi" 莊子)a man generally said to have been born around 369 at a place called Meng () in the state of Song (around modern Shangqiu, Henan Province), and to have died around 301, 295, or 286. Almost nothing is concretely known of Zhuangzi's life. He is thought to have spent time in the southern state of Chu, as well as in Linzi, the capital of the state of Qi. Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian" ("Shiji" 史記), the first of China's 24 dynastic histories, has a biography of Zhuangzi, but most of it seems to have simply been drawn from anecdotes in the "Zhuangzi" itself. The American scholar and "Zhuangzi" translator Burton Watson noted, "Whoever Zhuang Zhou was, the writings attributed to him bear the stamp of a brilliant and original mind."