Chen Baisha

• Chen Xianzhang, courtesy name Gongfu, sobriquet Shizhai, also known as Bingfu, Baisha Zi, Biyu Laoren, and Shi Weng, lived in Baisha Village, from which he came to be respectfully known as “Master Baisha.” He was a native of Baisha Li, Xinhui County, Guangzhou Prefecture (present-day Baisha Subdistrict, Pengjiang District, Jiangmen, Guangdong) and a leading cultural figure of the Guangfu region. A mid-Ming dynasty thinker, philosopher, educator, calligrapher, and poet, Chen Xianzhang is regarded as the founder of Ming-dynasty School of the Mind (xinxue). He was the only scholar from Guangdong to be enshrined in the Confucian Temple, and was later honored with the titles “True Confucian of the Sacred Age,” “Southern Lineage of the Sacred Way,” and “The One of Lingnan.”