Hu Yuan (Chinese: è¡çÂÂ, 993âÂÂ1059), courtesy name Yizhi (Chinese: 翼ä¹Â). Born in Hailing, Taizhou (today's Taizhou, Jiangsu). Since he lived in the Fort Anding in the modern-day Zichang County, he was also called "Mr. Anding" (Chinese: å®Âå®Âå ÂçÂÂ, ÃÂn dìng xiÃÂn sheng).
An educator from the Northern Song dynasty, he was considered one of the so-called "Three masters of the beginning of the Song dynasty" (å®ÂÃ¥ÂÂä¸Âå ÂçÂÂ). As an educator, he privileged the understating of the substance and function (Chinese: é«Âç¨) and literature (Chinese: æÂÂ) as the way of the Confucian sages.
He was also considered one of the forerunners of Neo-Confucianism, was a teacher of Cheng Yi, and wrote a comment on the Yijing. Zhu Xi regarded him as a relatively important Confucian of the Song dynasty
He was the ancestor of Hu Dunfu, a modern Chinese mathematician.