Chen Xiang was from Yu Hung county in Zhe Jiang province. He was in Japan at the same time as Zhu Zhi Yu (Zhu Shun Shui), an eccentric scholar of the late Ming Dynasty. Chapter forty-four of “The History of China's “Shi Xue” (Chen Yuan Yun's propagation of “Shi Xue” and its influence in Japan) dismisses Chen's theory of Daoism. Yuan Er Ju annotated a volume on Chen's theory of Daoism, but this annotation lacks any critique. An honors graduate of the Hanlin academy, Yang Shen shared Chen Yuan Yuns's interest in literature, art and the Dao. Yuan Yun spread Hubei province's Gung An sect theories of aesthetics in Japan and these theories influenced the Japanese art of flower arranging. Chen Yuan Yun studied martial arts at the famous Shao Lin temple, and brought the techniques to Japan. He taught three Japanese masters who then started the three main branches of judo in Japan. In addition to all of this, Chen Yuan Yun also brought calligraphy to Japan. Chen befriended a Japanese monk, Zheng Yuan Zheng, and together they edited a volume on poetry entitled “A Collection of Yuan Yuan (元元) Songs”. Ideologically speaking, Chen Xiang was influenced by Tao Wang Ling of the Tai Zhou sect and tended toward Buddhism. Even though he had these Buddhist tendencies, he followed Daoist recluses of the time in criticizing Confucianism with the motto “Not understanding Lao Zi and still criticizing him is akin to being an un-filial child.” (《老子精通考．虛用》) Chen preferred explaining Lao Zi through Buddhism, his poems fused Zhuang Zi with Zen Buddhism. The monk Yuan Zheng bestowed on him the honorific “Great Guest from China”. Huang Shen of Kyoto has published a book called Chen Yuan. In their book “Hubei Literary History”, Wang Qi Zhou and Wang Zhi Long thought it best to end with Chen Yuan Yun in their third volume of “Late Ancient Literature”, but only mentioned Lin Yu Tang.