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Wang Chong
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OverviewAI-generated
Wang Chong (27–97) was a male philosopher, meteorologist, astronomer, and mathematician from the Eastern Han dynasty. Born in Shangyu District, he was a native speaker of Chinese and held the courtesy name 仲任. His primary field of work was philosophy.
His notable works include *Spontaneity & the pattern of things*, *論衡*, *Lun heng jiao zheng*, *Lun heng xuan yi*, and *Lun heng ji jie*. He is described in sources such as the Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia and the *Book of the Later Han*.
Synthesized by Vinony from 26 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 27
- Died
- 97?
- Works
- 15
Top works
- Spontaneity & the pattern of things
- 論衡
- Lun heng jiao zheng
- Lun heng xuan yi
- Lun heng ji jie
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Born
- 0027 ( 0027 ) , Kuaiji, Han dynasty (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China)
- Died
- 0097 ( 0098 )
- Era
- Han dynasty philosophy
- Region
- Chinese philosophy
- School
- Rationalism, Naturalism
- Main interests
- Philosophy, Astronomy, Meteorology
- Notable ideas
- Materialism, Criticism of superstition, Scientific explanation of natural phenomena
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Family name
- Wang
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Eastern Han
- Place of birth
- Shangyu District
- Occupation
- mathematician
- Languages spoken
- Chinese
- Native language
- Chinese
- Field of work
- philosophy
Show 4 more facts
- date of birth
- 0027-01-01
- date of death
- 0097-01-01
- courtesy name
- 仲任
- Commons category
- Wang Chong
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~21 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Wang Chong (Chinese: 王充; pinyin: Wáng Chōng; Wade–Giles: Wang Ch'ung; 27 – c. 97 AD), courtesy name Zhongren (仲任), was a Chinese astronomer, meteorologist, naturalist, philosopher, and writer active during the Eastern Han dynasty. He developed a rational, secular, naturalistic and mechanistic account of the world and of human beings and gave a materialistic explanation of the origin of the universe. His main work was the Lunheng (論衡, "Critical Essays"). This book contained many theories involving early sciences of astronomy and meteorology, and Wang Chong was even the first in Chinese history to mention the use of the square-pallet chain pump, which became common in irrigation and public works in China thereafter. Wang also accurately described the process of the water cycle.
Unlike most of the Chinese philosophers of his period, Wang spent much of his life in non-self-inflicted poverty. He was said to have studied by standing at bookstalls, and had a superb memory, which allowed him to become very well-versed in the Chinese classics. He eventually reached the rank of District Secretary, a post he soon lost as a result of his combative and anti-authoritarian nature.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Wang Chong” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.