How Did This Ming Dynasty Maverick Spark a Globally Renowned Intellectual Revolution in Guizhou?

In the early 16th century, Longchang Post Station in the heart of Guizhou welcomed several travelers from afar who had trekked for months and would remain there for years. Leading them was Wang Shouren, the newly appointed postmaster of Longchang. Little did he know, a storm of thought was about to erupt in this remote corner of the Ming Dynasty. This intellectual leap not only extended the legacy of Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism, becoming an unavoidable milestone in Chinese philosophical history, but its ripples also reached modern times and beyond.

Photo/Chen Zhong

The long journey did not end in comfort. The famed "Longchang Nine Post Stations," despite their reputation, lacked even a decent reception facility. Wang Yangming wrote: "The thatched hut barely reaches my shoulders, / Weary from travel, my body finds respite. / Thorns form a natural fence, / Earthen steps without order. / The wind blows through its gaps, / Leaking rain is easily patched." ("First Arrival at Longchang, Nowhere to Stay, Built a Thatched Hut to Dwell In")

This ancient five-character poem is praised by Yang Lihua, a scholar of Chinese philosophy and professor at Peking University, not only for its simple, natural poetic flow and the interplay of emotion and scenery but also for its "absence of resentment."

According to *The Chronology of Wang Yangming*, Longchang (modern-day Xiuwen) was located "amidst myriad mountains and thickets of thorns."

The photo shows the mountainous landscape of the Liuguang River Grand Canyon at the border of Xiuwen and Qianxi.

Photo/Yin Gang

How did Wang Yangming practice the "Way of the Gentleman" in Longchang?

Wang Yangming had every reason to resent his fate. Born into a scholarly family in Yuyao, Zhejiang, his father, Wang Hua, was the top candidate in the 1481 imperial examination and served as a high-ranking official in the capital, a veteran of three reigns. From a young age, Wang Yangming displayed remarkable talent and aspired to "become a sage." Even before passing the imperial exams, he mingled with luminaries of literature and politics.

In 1505, the 15-year-old Emperor Wuzong, Zhu Houzhao, ascended the throne, indulging the eunuch Liu Jin and others in wielding unchecked power. Officials who remonstrated were beaten to death, and dozens were implicated and imprisoned. Wang Yangming, then a secretary in the Ministry of War, was punished with court flogging for gently advising the emperor to treat remonstrators kindly. He was imprisoned, exiled from the capital, and appointed postmaster of Longchang—a minor position not even ranked in the ninth grade. With his chronic toothache and rheumatism, he endured a life of hardship. This marked a major setback in his life. Wang Yangming later spoke of enduring "a hundred deaths and a thousand hardships," beginning here.

A modern reimagining of Wang Yangming's arduous journey into Guizhou.

Source/*My 1508: Inquiry into the Dao·Twelve Realms*

His "absence of resentment" also stemmed from the influence of Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism. After the decline of Confucianism in the Han Dynasty, Buddhism and Daoism flourished during the Tang Dynasty, often leading scholars into religious fervor. When exiled, they tended to blame heaven and others. The revival of Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, marked by "rationality," instilled a strong moral discipline in scholars, enabling them to maintain dignity in adversity—as the saying goes, "The noble man is calm and at ease; the petty man is fretful and ill at ease."

Wang Yangming aspired to be a noble man. "When I first arrived, I had no shelter and lived among thorny thickets, feeling stifled" ("Record of the Humble Hut"). Yet he quickly adapted, his writings often exuding vitality and optimism.

The "Western Garden" where Wang Yangming farmed.

Now the site of the Guizhou Longchang Wang Yangming Research Institute.

Facing starvation when supplies ran out,

he personally reclaimed wasteland for farming, foraged for wild vegetables, and gathered firewood in the mountains—

He also experienced moments of deep homesickness but ultimately embraced an optimistic outlook in the face of hardship—

"The wanderer gazes toward his homeland, tears fall as if his heart urges them."

"Toiling alone for my humble wages, I am unashamed of earning my keep."

His most sorrowful literary work is "Elegy for a Wayfarer," included in *Guwen Guanzhi*. In the autumn of 1509, a minor official from the capital, along with his son and servant, passed through Longchang and subsequently died abruptly one after another on Centipede Slope, twenty li west of Longchang. Upon hearing the news, Wang Yangming hurried with his servant to bury them and composed this elegy—mourning strangers, yet also mourning himself. He believed the official and his companions "were assailed by miasma from without and consumed by melancholy within—how could they not perish?" As for himself, he wrote, "I have endured the same poisonous air yet survived unscathed, for I have never allowed a single day of sorrow to overcome me."

Wang Yangming and his servant buried the deceased in what became known as the "Grave of Three Strangers."

When Wang Yangming placed himself within the lineage of Confucian disciples, identifying as a bearer of civilization, his exile gained cultural and historical depth. He could not help but recall Confucius "besieged in Chen and Cai," Yan Hui "with his meager bowl of rice and gourd of water," Zeng Dian "singing of the spring breeze," and Mencius's admonition: "When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on a man..." The sages had already set the example; he needed only to endure this trial. This also explains why, in his writings from Longchang, Wang Yangming repeatedly emphasized the ideal of the "noble man" (*junzi*), naming his living quarters accordingly.

He once dwelled in a natural cave, damp and gloomy, until local villagers built him a new residence. Wang named it "The Pavilion of No Vulgarity" (*Helou Xuan*), erected a "Gentleman's Pavilion" (*Junzi Ting*), invoking the saying, "Where the noble man dwells, how can there be vulgarity?" He also built a guest hall, "The Hall of Welcoming the Sun" (*Binyang Tang*), symbolizing the sun as the noble man, affirming his resolve. He reclaimed land for a garden, grew vegetables, and founded the Dragon Mountain Academy (*Longgang Shuyuan*), where his first instruction urged students to "set their will"—the will of a noble man (*Regulations for Students at Longchang*).

Inside the China Yangming Cultural Park in Xiuwen County

"The Enlightenment at Longchang," standing on the shoulders of Confucian "giants"

Beyond moral discipline, Wang Yangming embarked on profound intellectual exploration, with Longchang Post providing the ideal setting. "Cast into the wilderness, a thousand miles into the southern heat, yet glad my lowly rank grants freedom"—this opening line of *Five Casual Poems at Longgang* captures his state of mind.

Faced with career setbacks and personal hardship, Wang Yangming imposed rigorous spiritual and ethical demands on himself through action. Removed from treacherous politics, he gained freedom in time and space. In isolation, he turned inward, achieving an intellectual breakthrough at Longchang Post.

Amid "dwelling among barbarians in hardship," he observed both nature and human nature. Scholar Wang Jianchu notes that Wang Yangming often praised the simplicity of Guizhou's people in his poetry, describing them as "like unpolished jade, like unshaped wood" (*Record of the Pavilion of No Vulgarity*) or "their speech rough but their intent sincere" (*On First Arriving at Longchang with No Shelter, I Built a Grass Hut*). Compared to the perilous court, Longchang offered him kindness. He found that uneducated yet genuine people were more receptive to moral guidance, leading him to declare in *Record of the Elephant Shrine*: "There are no people in the world who cannot be transformed."

A modern reimagining of Wang Yangming's enlightenment and studies at Longchang.

Source: *My 1508: Seeking the Way · Twelve Realms*

Xiuwen County still preserves Wang Yangming's "Cave of Playing with the *Yi*" (*Wanyi Wo*), where he studied the *Book of Changes*, and the "East Cave" (*Yangming Dong*), where he once lived. Externally, *Wanyi Wo* resembles a grassy park with a small hill concealing a cave. Descending the stone steps, one finds a deep, damp cavern with slippery walls.

Local scholar Yang Dejun, who began working at the county’s cultural relics office in 1989, was among the earliest experts to document and protect Wang Yangming's legacy in Xiuwen. In the 1990s, he raised funds to restore the severely damaged *Wanyi Wo*, discovering an inscription on the cave ceiling: "Yangming’s Cave of Playing with the *Yi*." The carving, made 80 years after Wang’s departure by local chieftain An Guoxing, serves as key evidence of the site’s authenticity.

Yang Dejun notes that today’s Youluo Street, opposite *Wanyi Wo*, likely marks the original site of Longchang Post, while "Lone Hill" (*Xiao Gu Shan*), where the cave sits, has changed drastically over five centuries. In Wang’s time, *Wanyi Wo* stood higher, its structure intact, with drier walls—more like a secluded sanctuary for contemplating cosmic principles.

The karst formation at the entrance of *Wanyi Wo*.

Photo/Chen Weihong

Qian Dehong’s *Chronicle of Wang Yangming* records: "Suddenly, in the middle of the night, he grasped the essence of 'investigating things to extend knowledge.' As if spoken to in a dream, he cried out in astonishment, startling his attendants. He realized then: the Way of the Sages is inherently complete within our nature—to seek principle in external things had been a mistake."

This became the legendary "Enlightenment at Longchang," often depicted as a divine revelation—Wang Yangming, struck by epiphany in his sleep, understood that truth lies inward, not outward. The *Chronicle*’s mystical narrative dominated later perceptions, framing it as sudden enlightenment. Yet rather than an overnight awakening, it was likely the culmination of prolonged reflection.

"Longchang was located in the remote southern mountains, where books could not be carried." Wang Yangming likely had only the "Book of Changes" as his reading material. Sitting daily in a stone cave, he silently recited the classics he had learned, recording his insights whenever inspiration struck. Over approximately one year and seven months, he interpreted the essence of the Five Classics, composing the book "Wujing Yishuo." He notably emphasized that "it need not entirely align with the sages of the past" (Preface to "Wujing Yishuo"), meaning his interpretations differed from those of his predecessors—particularly Zhu Xi.

The scene inside the Yangming Cave on Longgang Mountain.

The revival of Confucianism in the Song Dynasty can be traced back to Zhou Dunyi, with Zhu Xi of the Southern Song synthesizing Neo-Confucianism into a canonical system that later became the standard for imperial examinations. However, Wang Yangming had long doubted Zhu Xi's assertion that principle (li) could be sought through the investigation of things (gewu). Yang Lihua argues that Wang's enlightenment at Longchang first revealed the "original unity of knowledge and action, or the unity of knowledge and practice"—a foundational breakthrough in Wang Yangming's philosophy and the initial formation of his original thought. Thereafter, "his ideas further developed on the basis of the unity of knowledge and action."

"Knowledge" and "action" are a pair of concepts long debated by Confucian scholars. When discussing their relationship, Chinese people may not recall Zhu Xi's view that "in sequence, knowledge comes first; in importance, action is weightier," but they will likely think first of "the unity of knowledge and action."

During his time lecturing and making friends in Guiyang, Wang Yangming visited numerous cultural landmarks.

The image shows the Laixian Cave on Dongshan Mountain, where he once left a poem.

Wang Yangming elaborated extensively on the "unity of knowledge and action," such as: "True knowledge is what constitutes action; without action, it cannot be called knowledge" ("Reply to Gu Dongqiao"). For example, one may understand filial piety and fraternal duty in theory but fail to practice them, which still counts as "not knowing," because selfish desires obscure the original mind. People raised in a civilized society inherently know right from wrong without special instruction, yet fail to act due to selfish desires obscuring true knowledge. Only by continually eliminating selfish desires can innate moral awareness (liangzhi) be revealed—a principle upheld by Neo-Confucians as "preserving heavenly principle and eliminating human desires."

In his later years, he summarized this as the simpler and more direct "extending innate moral awareness (zhi liangzhi)." The term "extending" (zhi) implies action, so "extending innate moral awareness" inherently includes the "unity of knowledge and action." Though this concept was proposed long after leaving Guizhou, Wang himself stated: "The two words 'innate moral awareness' have been implied since Longchang, though I could not articulate them at the time."

How do Confucian classics view "knowledge" and "action"?

How to become a "bridge" for Wang Yangming's dissemination of the School of Mind?

During Wang Yangming's stay in Longchang, his fellow townsman Mao Ke served as Vice Commissioner of Education, overseeing schools and managing military farmland.

When Mao Ke assumed office in 1503 (the 16th year of the Hongzhi reign), he was eager to revitalize local education. The following year, he acquired a derelict property along with nearby residences to build an academy and an education office. During construction, a broken stele was unearthed, revealing the site had once housed the Yuan Dynasty's "Shunyuan Prefecture Confucian School." Later, the "Civilization Academy" was established, and the new academy retained the old name. The ruins of the Civilization Academy are located near modern-day Guiyang's city center, at the intersection of Shifu Road and Fayuan Street, now marked only by a commemorative stele.

A modern reimagining of Wang Yangming's lectures in Guiyang.

Source: "My 1508: Inquiry into the Dao · Twelve Realms"

In 1508 (the 3rd year of the Zhengde reign), Mao Ke invited Wang Yangming to lecture there. Wang declined with a poem, "Reply to Mao Zhuoan's Invitation to the Academy." The following year, Mao's successor, Xi Shu, invited Wang again to teach at the Civilization Academy. Unlike its earlier fate of ruin, the academy's story now entered the historical record.

From the intercalary ninth month to the twelfth month of 1509 (the 4th year of Zhengde), Wang Yangming lectured at the Civilization Academy. Xi Shu personally led students to attend. Based on Xi's letters, Wang taught the "Spring King's First Month" passage from the "Spring and Autumn Annals." Given his work on "Wujing Yishuo," his lectures likely presented his Mind-Study interpretations of Confucian classics.

The historical development of Guiyang's Civilization Academy.

In his "Farewell Preface for Master Yangming Wang," written that winter, Xi Shu noted that "in every era, literary and intellectual flourishing takes over a century to produce a great Confucian." Yet, after 140 years of the Ming Dynasty, "none had deeply grasped the teachings of Zhou Dunyi and the Cheng brothers to match the era's cultural prosperity"—until Wang Yangming, who fulfilled this expectation.

This prediction proved correct. Later scholars summarized the most eminent Neo-Confucians as "Cheng-Zhu-Lu-Wang," with the first two representing the School of Principle and the latter two the School of Mind. In the Ming Dynasty, only Wang Yangming earned this distinction.

Jiaxiu Tower, aided by Wang Yangming's third-generation disciple Guo Zizhang.

Witnessed the development of education and culture in Guizhou.

In December of the fourth year of the Zhengde era (1509), Wang Yangming hastily bid farewell to Guiyang and headed to Luling, Jiangxi, to serve as a county magistrate. From the poems and writings he left behind, it is evident that his spiritual demeanor had changed compared to two years prior, with both his mindset and scholarship refined. At 38, Wang Yangming embarked on the second half of his life with a renewed vigor.

If, two years earlier on his journey of exile, Wang Yangming was initially filled with romantic idealism before being forced to confront harsh reality, this departure was marked by nostalgia but even more so by high spirits and an eagerness to share the insights gained in Longchang. Passing through Zhenyuan Prefecture (present-day Zhenyuan County), he left Guizhou by waterway and wrote "Letter from Zhenyuan Inn," offering endless advice to his students in Guiyang.

The Jiming Temple in Nanjing where Wang Yangming once lectured.

Wang Yangming's major lecturing activities after leaving Guizhou.

In March, he arrived in Pingxiang, Jiangxi, and paid another visit to the Lianxi Shrine. Two years earlier, on his way to Guizhou, he had left a poem titled "Visiting the Lianxi Shrine on the Road to Pingxiang," expressing reverence for the founder of Neo-Confucianism. Now, his mood was different: "For long, the Way has lacked pioneers; in this sage age, recluses should arise. Since fragmentation led scholarship astray, carving and polishing waste the spirit." ("Revisiting the Lianxi Shrine with the Previous Rhyme"). Clearly, he had gained academic confidence, criticizing Zhu Xi's "fragmentation" and "carving," lamenting how Zhou Dunyi's teachings remained obscure, and positioning himself as Zhou's heir.

Thereafter, he lectured tirelessly between governance and military campaigns, achieving immense fame in his later years. Scholars flocked from all directions, bringing their own provisions and filling nearby temples, "with no room to sleep at night, sharing beds, their songs echoing dawn to dusk" ("Instructions for Practical Living"). His portrait was eagerly collected and enshrined during his lifetime. Five years after his death, the Yangming Shrine was built in Guiyang, and 55 years later, he was enshrined alongside Confucius.

The Bailudong Academy in Jiangxi, where Wang Yangming propagated the concept of "extending innate knowledge."

Although Yangming's philosophy gradually faded during the Ming and Qing dynasties, it repeatedly experienced revivals in modern East Asian societies.

Qian Ming, a researcher at the Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences, noted: "Zhu Xi's teachings suit stable societies, while Yangming's philosophy emphasizes individual agency, making it more fitting for times of change." He added, "Yangming's ideas gained popularity in Japan during the transformative late Edo and early Meiji periods. Korea, as a Confucian state, long suppressed Yangming's teachings in favor of Zhu Xi's. But in modern times, especially under Japanese colonization, Korea also embraced Yangming's philosophy."

During China's modern "unprecedented changes in a century," Yangming's philosophy also became an intellectual weapon for figures like Liang Qichao.

Wang Yangming influenced numerous scholars from the Ming-Qing era to modern times.

Though Wang Yangming left Guizhou, his philosophy remained.

On his way to Luling, Jiangxi, via Zhenyuan Prefecture (present-day Zhenyuan County), Wang Yangming wrote to his students in Guiyang ("Letter to the Students of Guiyang"). Three years after leaving Guizhou, he sent another letter, "To the Students of Guiyang," opening with: "Some of you have written, questioning my long silence. How could I forget you?"—a testament to his enduring attachment.

In "Letter to the Students of Guiyang," Wang Yangming listed 23 students who studied under him, providing evidence of the Guizhou branch of his school. The spread of Yangming's philosophy was inseparable from the academy system, with Longgang Academy and Wenming Academy as its starting points. These academies became models for later Guizhou academies, particularly those established by his disciples' students.

The Longgang Academy and Yangming Cave on Longgang Mountain.

Five years after Wang Yangming's death (1534), his Zhejiang disciple Wang Xing, as an imperial censor, inspected Guizhou. He learned that locals made annual pilgrimages to Longchang or bowed from afar to honor Yangming, a journey made difficult by distance. Dozens of Yangming's disciples, including Tang Xu, Ye Wu, and Chen Wenxue, petitioned to build a shrine in Guiyang. At a time when Yangming's teachings were officially denounced as "false learning," Wang Xing convened local officials and concluded: "The master's contributions are to the world, his legacy to Guizhou, and his judgment to posterity." Approval was granted "to inspire the frontier people." Though public funds only covered materials, enthusiastic public support enabled the completion of the Yangming Shrine in Guiyang's east (present-day Wenchang Road) within a month—a structure with five halls and 13 columns.

In "Record of the Yangming Academy," Wang Xing noted that upon arriving in Guiyang, he often heard "soft songs resembling Zhejiang accents." When asked, locals replied: "This is the lingering influence of Master Wang of Longchang," adding that "the master's teachings are deeply rooted in hearts." The soft Zhejiang accents were Yangming's native dialect—proof that geese leave traces, and men leave echoes.

Wang Yangming is historically acclaimed as having "achieved the three immortalities" (virtue, merit, and wisdom).

Since then, Guizhou's veneration of Wang Yangming has never ceased, and his philosophy has repaid the province in unexpected ways.

In early 1940, under the leadership of Principal Huang Zhifu, the Provincial Guiyang Rural Normal School relocated from Qingyan, Guiyang to Rongjiang in southeastern Guizhou and was renamed the National Guizhou Normal School. It was the largest normal school in Guizhou at the time and a representative of rural normal schools in China. Huang Zhifu believed: "Rural normal schools should be in rural areas; frontier normal schools should be in border regions, especially in remote counties where indigenous communities reside, to cultivate talents for developing and constructing the economy and culture of mountainous areas. This is the purpose of education."

Huang Zhifu was one of the earliest followers of Tao Xingzhi, a modern educator who, deeply influenced by Wang Yangming, changed his name from Tao Wenjun twice, first to "Tao Zhixing" and then to "Tao Xingzhi." In Rongjiang, Huang Zhifu actively promoted Tao Xingzhi's educational philosophy, advocating "life as education" and the "unity of teaching, learning, and doing." Beyond regular courses, he organized cultural and sports activities such as track and field and ball games, which became one of the origins of football in Rongjiang. This seed of cultural and sports education has now grown into the nationally popular "Village Super League."

From "the unity of knowledge and action" to Huang Zhifu's "unity of teaching, learning, and doing," the spiritual legacy left by Wang Yangming has had a profound impact on Guizhou. From the perspective of Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism, Yangming's philosophy is simple and direct, possessing immense感染力, capable of inspiring ordinary people's moral passion in daily life. It was only after Wang Yangming that Confucian philosophy truly became a philosophy for the masses.

And all of this began in Longchang, Guizhou, five hundred years ago.