Zhu Xi
1130 – 1200 · 70 years · Wuyi Mountains (Fujian) · Asia
Built the Neo-Confucian synthesis: the world consists of principle (li) and vital energy (qi), and investigating things leads to moral perfection. His commentaries on the Four Books underpinned China's civil exams for 600 years.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 12th century
Portrait: 向史公哲曰 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Averroes (Ibn Rushd) — philosopher, commentator on Aristotle, 4 years older
- Henry II — first Plantagenet, builder of the Angevin Empire and of common law, 3 years younger
- Hildegard of Bingen — abbess, mystic and composer, 32 years older
- Philip II Augustus — king who took Normandy from the Plantagenets, 35 years younger
- John Lackland — King of England who sealed Magna Carta, 36 years younger
- Francis of Assisi — saint, founder of the Franciscans, 52 years younger
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Vsevolod the Big Nest — grand prince under whom Vladimir became the strongest power in Rus, 24 years younger
- Andrey Bogolyubsky — prince who moved the centre of Rus to Vladimir, 19 years older
- Yuri Dolgoruky — prince of Rostov-Suzdal, founder of Moscow, 31 years older
- Yuri II of Vladimir — grand prince of Vladimir killed fighting the Mongols on the Sit, 59 years younger
Middle East
- Richard the Lionheart — King of England, crusader, 27 years younger
- Tamar of Georgia — Queen of Georgia, 36 years younger
- Anna Komnene — Byzantine princess and historian, 47 years older
Africa
- Saladin — Sultan of Egypt and Syria, 7 years younger
- Maimonides — philosopher, rabbi and physician, 8 years younger
Asia
- Genghis Khan — founder of the Mongol Empire, 32 years younger
- Minamoto no Yoritomo — first shogun of Japan, 17 years younger
- Jayavarman VII — King of the Khmer Empire, 8 years older
- Li Qingzhao — Song dynasty poet, 46 years older
The world in their lifetime
- 1136 The Novgorod Republic — aged 6, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1147 The Almohads take Marrakesh — aged 17, Africa
- 1163–1345 Notre-Dame de Paris begun — aged 33, Europe
- 1185 Prince Igor's campaign — aged 55, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1188 Magdeburg rights — aged 58, Europe
- 1192–1333 First shogunate in Japan — aged 62, Asia
- 1192 Second Battle of Tarain — aged 62, Asia