The Neo-Confucian Path

Neo-Confucianism was a revival and systematisation of Confucian thought in Song dynasty China, integrating Confucian ethics with Buddhist and Daoist metaphysics. Zhu Xi's synthesis of principle (li) and material force (qi) became the orthodox framework for civil service examinations across China, Korea, and Japan. Korean thinkers such as Yi Hwang and Yi I produced some of its most sophisticated elaborations.