Wang Chung (27 – 97 C.E.) (Traditional Chinese: 王充; Simplified Chinese: 王充; pinyin: Wáng Chōng) was a Chinese philosopher during the Han Dynasty who developed a rational, secular, naturalistic, and mechanistic account of the world and of human beings. His main work was the Lun-Heng (論衡) (first translated in 1911 as Balanced Enquiries, and since as Fair Discussions, or Critical Essays). Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiǎntǐzì; also called 简化字/簡化字, jiǎnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell(ing) and yin means sound(s)). This article describes the most common variant called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: 汉语拼音; Traditional Chinese: 漢語拼音; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... The Han Dynasty (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Han Chau; 206 BC–AD 220) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. ... Rationalism is either of two related, but distinct, philosophies. ... This article concerns secularity, that is, being secular, in various senses. ... Naturalism is any of several philosophical stances, typically those descended from materialism and pragmatism, that reject the validity of explanations or theories making use of entities inaccessible to natural science. ... In philosophy, mechanism is a theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes. ...

Unusually for a Chinese philosopher of the period, Wang Ch'ung spent much of his life in non-self-inflicted poverty; indeed, he was said to have studied by standing at bookstalls. A superb memory, however, allowed him to become very well-versed in the Chinese classics, and he eventually reached the rank of District Secretary, a post which he soon lost as a result of his combative and anti-authoritarian nature. China has a wealth of classical literature, both poetry and prose, dating from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC _ 256 BC) and including the Chinese classics texts, or Chinese canonical texts. ...

His work and thought

Also unusual is the fact that Wang cannot be placed in any particular school of Chinese philosophy. Rather, he reacted to the state that philosophy had reached in China by his day. Daoism had long before degenerated into superstition and magic, and Confucianism had been the state religion for some 150 years. Confucius and Lao Zi were worshipped as gods, omens were seen everywhere, belief in ghosts was almost universal, and feng shui had begun to rule people's lives. Wang's response to all this was derision, and he made it his vocation to set out a rational, naturalistic account both of the world and of the human place in it. He was also a friend of Ban Gu, the historian who contributed to the Book of Han (Hanshu). Taoism (sometimes written as Daoism) is the English name for: (a) a philosophical school based on the texts the Tao Te Ching (ascribed to Laozi and alternately spelled Dào Dé JÄ«ng) and the Zhuangzi. ... Confucianist temple Thian Hock Keng in Singapore Confucianism (Traditional Chinese: å„’å­¸, Simplified Chinese: å„’å­¦; pinyin: Rúxué [ ], literally The School of the Scholars; or, less accurately, 孔教 Kŏng jiào, The Religion of Confucius) is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of the early Chinese sage Confucius. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Lao Zi (Chinese 老子, also spelled Laozi, Lao Tzu, or Lao Tse) is a major figure in Chinese philosophy whose historical existence is debated. ... Fēng Shuǐ (風水 – literally, wind and water pronounced fung shuway), which may be more than 3000 years old, is the ancient practice of placement to achieve harmony with the environment. ... Ban Gu (班固, Wade-Giles Pan Ku) was a 1st century Chinese historian. ... The Book of Han (Chinese: 漢書/汉书) is a classic Chinese historical writing covering the history of Western Han from 206 BC to 25. ...

At the centre of his thought was the denial that Heaven has any purpose for us, whether benevolent or hostile. To say that Heaven provides us with food and clothing is to say it acts as our farmer or tailor — an obvious absurdity. We humans are insignificant specks in the universe and cannot hope to effect changes in it, and it is ludicrous arrogance to think that the universe would change itself just for us.

Wang insisted that the words of previous sages should be treated critically, and that they were often contradictory or inconsistent. He criticized scholars of his own time for not accepting this, as well as what he called the popular acceptance of written works. He believed that the truth could be discovered, and would become obvious, by making the words clear, and by clear commentary on the text.

One example of Wang Chung's rationalism is his argument that thunder must be created by fire or heat, and is not a sign of the heavens being displeased. He argued that repeatable experience and experiment should be tried before adopting the belief that divine will was involved.

He was equally scathing about the popular belief in ghosts. Why should only human beings have ghosts, he asked, not other animals? We're all living creatures, animated by the same vital principle. Besides, so many people have died that their ghosts would vastly outnumber living people; the world would be swamped by them. "People say that spirits are the souls of dead men. That being the case, spirits should always appear naked, for surely it is not contended that clothes have souls as well as men." (Lun-Heng)

Wang was just as rational and uncompromising when it came to his attitude to knowledge. Beliefs require evidence, just as actions require results. Anyone can prattle nonsense, and they'll always be able to find people to believe it (especially if they can dress it up in superstitious flummery). Careful reasoning and experience of the world are what are needed, however.

Bernhard Karlgren called his style straightforward and without literary pretensions; in general, modern western writers have noted that Wang Ch'ung was one of the most original thinkers of his time, even iconoclastic in his opinions, and that he gained popularity in the 20th century because of the correspondences between his ideas and those which would later evolve in Europe. His writing is praised for being clear and well ordered. However, because there was no functioning scientific method or larger scientific discourse in his time, his formulations can seem alien to the modern eye — to some readers, even as peculiar as the superstitions that he was rejecting. Despite this barrier to entry into his work, however, he gained a certain fame, though mostly after his death, and had an effect on what is sometimes called ‘neo-Daoism’ — a reformed Daoist philosophy which developed a metaphysics that abandoned much of the superstition and mysticism into which Daoism had fallen in favour of a more rational, naturalistic approach. Bernhard Karlgren (1889 - 1978) was a Swedish sinologist and eminent philologist, and the founder of Swedish sinology as a scholarly discipline. ...

See also

• Chinese philosophy

Yin/Yang symbol and ba gua poopoo outside of Nanning city, Guangxi province. ...

External links

• Account of Wang Chung and interpretation — summary drawn from Twitchett and Loewe, The Cambridge History of China, vol. 1: The Ch'in and Han Empires; text and interpretation of "Consideration on Death" from his Lung-Heng, where he debunked people's superstitious belief in ghosts.
• Wang Ch'ung — adapted from Alfred Forke [trans.] Lung-Heng Part I: Philosophical Essays of Wang Ch'ung (1907)
• Wang Ch'ung — Peter J. King's introduction