Abstract

Cheng Hao 程顥 (1032–1085) was born in Huangpi 黃陂 in what is the present Hubei Province, where his father was a local administrator. Baichun 伯淳 was his courtesy name, but he was better known as Mingdao 明道. Together with his younger brother Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033–1107), he strove to restore the tradition of Confucius and Mencius in the name of “the learning of the way” (daoxue 道學), which eventually developed as the main concern in various schools of Neo-Confucian thought. Although the philosophical views of the two brothers are diverse in some respects, they are usually identified as together as the “Cheng brothers” to signify their common contribution to Neo-Confucian thought