Zheng Xuan (127–c.July 200[1]),courtesy nameKangcheng (Chinese:康成), was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer who lived towards the end of theEastern Han dynasty. He was born in Gaomi,Beihai Commandery (modernWeifang, Shandong), and was a student ofMa Rong, together withLu Zhi.^[2]

Like his teacher, he was a member of theOld Text School, that challenged the state orthodoxNew Text School. His contemporary rival was He Xiu (Chinese:何休, 129–182). Zheng is notable for his syncretic attempt to bridge the two centuries of rivalry between the two schools. He adopted the strengths of each school in interpreting theConfucian classics, although he usually favoured the Old Text teachings. He was very influential, but the government never officially adopted his teachings. The Han dynasty was already in decline during his lifetime and collapsed a decade after his death. Neither school survived the chaos, but Zheng's conception ofConfucianism would be the mainstream interpretation for centuries.

In 200, during theBattle of Guandu, the warlordYuan Shao ordered Zheng to Yuan's stronghold (in modern-dayDaming County,Hebei Province), where he died of illness in around July of that year.

The commemorative shrine of Zheng Xuan in Shandong was rebuilt under the supervision ofRuan Yuan (阮元; 1764–1849) in 1793.^[3]

Zheng Xuan appears in Chapter 22 of the novelRomance of the Three Kingdoms, which dramatises the end of the Han dynasty and the subsequentThree Kingdoms era. Zheng is depicted as living inXuzhou.Liu Bei asks Zheng to write to Yuan Shao to propose an alliance against the warlordCao Cao.

• Three Kingdoms
• Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms
• Records of the Three Kingdoms
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms

• Knechtges, David R. (2014). "Zheng Xuan 鄭玄". In Knechtges, David R.; Chang, Taiping (eds.).Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide, Part Four. Leiden: Brill. pp. 2236–39.ISBN 978-90-04-27217-0.

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