Wáng Chōng 王充 (27–c. 97 CE), zì Zhòngrèn 仲任. Native of Shàngyú 上虞 county, Kuàijī 會稽 commandery (modern Shàngyú, Zhèjiāng). Eastern Hàn critical philosopher; biographical record in Hòu Hàn shū j. 49 (列傳 39, 王充王符仲長統列傳). From a poor merchant family; studied at the Tàixué under Bān Bīao 班彪 (father of Bān Gù); spent most of his life as a provincial private scholar in Kuàijī without stable patronage. Author of the Lùn héng 論衡 (KR3j0080) — the foundational critical-rationalist work of Hàn-period Chinese philosophy, in 30 juan with 85 essays (chapter 44 Zhāo zhì lost). Endymion Wilkinson groups him with Yáng Xióng 揚雄 and Wáng Fú 王符 as one of the “Three Hàn Philosophers.” Closing autobiographical chapter Zì jì 自紀 is one of the most extensive surviving Hàn-period autobiographical texts.