Wang Daiyu

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Wáng Dàiyú (traditional Chinese: 王袋輿; simplified Chinese: 王袋舆) (ca. 1570 - ca. 1660) was a Chinese Muslim (Hui) scholar. His given name was Ya, style name Daiyu. He called himself Zhenhui Laoren 真回老人 ("The True Old Man of Islam") and went by his style name. His earliest ancestor in the early Ming period came to China in the retinue of a Tributary Emissary from the West. Because he was adept at the art of astronomy and calculating calendars, he held the office of Master Supervisor of the Imperial Observatory, and was granted a residence in Lu Fei Lane (present day South Hong Wu Street) in Nanjing. His descendants followed in this field. As a child, Wang Daiyu learned from his father. Later, he studied under Ma Junshi from Nanjing. At the age of 20, he began studying Chinese and an intensive investigation of the writings of Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, as well as other miscellaneous teachings. In the fifteenth year of the reign of the Chongzhen Emperor, he made a translation of Zhengjiao Zhenquan ("A True Explanation of the Right Religion"), in twenty "juan", and began the enterprise of translating the Islamic scriptures into Chinese. Later, he also wrote Qingzhen Da Xue ("The Great learning of Islam") and Xizhen Zhengda ("Rare and True Answers"). Within Chinese Islamic circles, he is known by the laudatory title, "Great Saint of the Qing Period."