Gui Youguang (Kuei Yu-kuang) 1506-1571

Best known as one of the foremost stylists of the pure and lucid guwen school of prose in the Ming dynasty. He was born into a wealthy Kunshan family near present-day Suzhou and was educated in the Confucian classics, but his official career was undistinguished: he repeatedly failed the jinshi examinations and did not obtain the degree until he was nearly sixty. By that time, however, he was already famous for his essays (which tended to be informal and on everyday subjects) and as a teacher. He was said to have had several thousand students.

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