Zou Yan
| Zou Yan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 鄒衍 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 邹衍 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Zōu Yǎn |
| Wade–Giles | Tsou1 Yen3 |
| IPA | [tsóu jɛ̀n] |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | Jāu Yín |
| Jyutping | Zau1 Jin2 |
| Southern Min | |
| Tâi-lô | Tsau Ián |
| Old Chinese | |
| Baxter-Sagart | *[ts]ˤro N-q(r)anʔ |
Zou Yan (Chinese: 鄒衍; 305 – 240 BC) was an ancient Chinese philosopher best known as the representative thinker of the Yin and Yang School (or School of Naturalists) during the Hundred Schools of Thought era in Chinese philosophy. Zou Yan was a noted scholar of the Jixia Academy in the state of Qi. Joseph Needham, a British sinologist, describes Zou as "The real founder of all Chinese scientific thought." His teachings combined and systematized two current theories during the Warring States period: Yin-Yang and the Five Elements/Phases (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water).
All of Zou Yan's writings were lost and are only known through quotations in early Chinese texts. The best information comes from his brief biography in the Records of the Grand Historian (1st century BC) by Sima Qian. It describes him as a polymath (philosopher, historian, politician, naturalist, geographer, astrologer) who came from the coastal state of Qi (present day Shandong), where he was a member of the state-sponsored Jixia Academy. Needham writes:
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