Neo-Confucianism is the product of the integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. It takes "reason" (or "justice") as the core, which not only runs through the nature of the universe and the fate of life, but also inherits the true nature of Confucius and Mencius and can govern the new Confucianism of the country.

Neo-Confucianism, also known as Neo-Confucianism, prevailed from the early Northern Song Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty. Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties, as an academic trend of thought, was formed in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, but its source can be traced back to the early "Confucian revival movement" represented by Han Yu in the middle Tang Dynasty.

Since then, a new wave has appeared in the early Northern Song Dynasty. In order to create the initial stage, its representative figures are Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Hu Yuan, Sun Fu, Shijie and others. By the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi and Shao Yong appeared one after another and established their own philosophical systems. Neo-Confucianism has become a powerful theoretical trend of thought, which is its formative period.

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, Fujian scholar You Zuo returned to Fujian under the "Second Cheng" in Henan. Shi Yang, Luo Congyan, Dong Li and other great scholars passed down from generation to generation to establish Daonan School, and early Neo-Confucianism in Fujian came into being.

The core figures in the development of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties were Zhu Cheng and Lu Wang. Zhu inherited and developed the "Two-way Theory" through Daonan School, and "Zhu Cheng Neo-Confucianism" appeared. In addition, he also absorbed the thoughts of Zhou Dunyi, Shao Yong and Zhang Zai, sublated the philosophy of Buddhism and Taoism, and established his own neo-Confucianism system through Notes to Four Books. His theory is "to the broad masses, extremely subtle, and comprehensive throughout the world."

The formation of the four books of Zhu completed the transformation from the original Confucian classics to the four books. At the same time of Zhu, the thought of mind and nature represented by Lu Jiuyuan appeared. Lu Jiuyuan takes the heart as the noumenon and thinks that "reason" lies in my heart. As long as you look at your heart, you can know "reason".

After the development of this thought in Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, the "Mind Movement" appeared in the middle of Ming Dynasty, and the representative was Wang Yangming. Wang Yangming's theory of mind is based on Zhu Neo-Confucianism and sublates Lu Jiuyuan's theory of mind, so it is called "Wang Lu's theory of mind".

The development of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties experienced a logical internal development path, first of all, "Qi Xue", which faced the challenges of the nihilistic ontology of Buddhism and Taoism and the outlook on life and established a substantive philosophy. However, it is not enough to talk about "Qi", but also to understand the universal laws of the universe as an entity, so Neo-Confucianism came into being.

In order to emphasize people's subjective initiative and the further development of Neo-Confucianism, there is a "mind study". As far as the overall cultural evolution is concerned, Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties is not only the response of Confucianism to the challenge of Buddhism, but also the response and resolution of the challenge of metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties, and it has assumed the function of rebuilding China's cultural value system. He revived Confucianism in the pre-Qin period, so he was called "post-Confucianism".