Ruǎn Yuán 阮元 (1764–1849), zì Bóyuán 伯元, hào Yúntái 芸臺, also Léitángānzhǔ 雷塘庵主, native of Yízhēng 儀徵, Yángzhōu, Jiāngsū. The central patron-organizer of late-Qiánlóng / Dàoguāng kǎozhèng scholarship. Jìnshì of Qiánlóng 54 (1789); Hànlín biānxiū; rose through a sequence of senior provincial appointments: governor of Zhèjiāng (1799–1809), governor of Hénán (1810), governor-general of HúGuǎng (1816), governor-general of LiǎngGuǎng (1817–1826), governor-general of YúnGuì (1826–1835), grand secretary (tǐréngé dàxuéshì 體仁閣大學士, 1838–1849). Posthumously honored Wéndá 文達. His three landmark editorial projects, all conducted under official sponsorship: (1) the Jīngjí zhuàngǔ 經籍籑詁 (1798, the great jīng glossatory concordance); (2) the Shísān jīng zhù shū jiàokān jì 十三經注疏校勘記 (1815, the definitive collated edition of the Thirteen Classics with commentary); (3) the HuángQīng jīngjiě 皇清經解 (1825–1829, 1400-juan anthology of canonical Qīng kǎozhèng commentaries, published at Xuéhǎitáng 學海堂 in Guǎngzhōu). He founded the Gūshān 詁山 (also written 詁經精舍) academy in Hángzhōu (1801) and the Xuéhǎitáng academy in Guǎngzhōu (1820), the two principal nineteenth-century kǎozhèng training centers. His collected writings are the Yánjīngshì jí 揅經室集 (40 juan + xùjí), of which the yī jí KR4f0062 (Classics, 14 juan) is principal. Major classical essays: Lùnyǔ lùnrén lùn 論語論仁論; Xìngmìng gǔxùn 性命古訓; Wényán shuō 文言說 (the influential late-Qīng essay arguing that genuine gǔwén must be parallel-prose, against Tóngchéng). ECCP 399–402 (Tu Lien-che); CBDB id 29653.