In 1963, Wu Genyou was born in a farmers’ family of Zongyan Country inAnhuiProvince. His elders and forefathers are all illiterate. He studied for the Bachelor’s Degree of a Chinese major inAnhuiNormalUniversityfrom September 1982 to July 1986. He studied for his Master’s Degree as a Chinese major inWuhanUniversityfrom September 1986 to July 1989. From September 1989 to July 1992, he studied Philosophy inWuhanUniversityand got his Doctor’s Degree of Philosophy in August 1992. He became the vice-professor in Philosophy major of theHumanitiesCollegeinWuhanUniversityand graduate tutor from 1997. Since August 1998, he has been the secretary general of Hubei Institute of the history of philosophy till now. He was a visiting scholar from September 1999 to August 2000. In September 2000, he became the head of the Teaching and Research Section. He became the deputy chairmen of the department of philosophy and was responsible for related works of research, foreign affairs and graduate management. He became the deputy dean, philosophy institute and took charge of the research work.

His area of research varies from the philosophy of Ming and Qing dynasties and modernization, the philosophical thoughts of pre-Qin scholars toChina’s political philosophy and the freedom in Chinese and Western intellectual history.

His works includeChina’s Intellectual History of Societypublished by Wuhan University Press in 1997,The Comparison and Accommodation between Chinese and Western Philosophypublished by Wuhan University Press in 1997,Theories of Pre-Qin Scholarspublished by Shanghai People’s Publishing House in 1998,Kangxi—a Chinese Emperor’s Self-Portrait, written by Shi Qingqian and translated by Wu Genyou, published by Shanghai Far East Translation Publishing House in 2001 andChinese People’s Concept of Freedom—the Performance and Charm of Freedompublished by Guangxi People’s Publishing House in 2002.