Wang Yangming was a Chinese philosopher, government official, and military general during the Ming dynasty who taught that true knowledge and action are inseparable — that understanding something rightly means acting on it. He put this philosophy into practice himself, most famously in 1519 when he swiftly put down a prince's rebellion against the emperor using his own strategic planning and leadership. His ideas challenged older Confucian traditions and became hugely influential across China, Japan, and Korea. He is remembered as one of the most important Confucian thinkers after Confucius and Mencius themselves.