) of China. The atmosphere of
reform and new ideas was attributed to the struggle for survival
among warring regional lords who competed in building strong and
loyal armies and in increasing economic production to ensure a
broader base for tax collection. To effect these economic,
military, and cultural developments, the regional lords needed
ever-increasing numbers of skilled, literate officials and
teachers, the recruitment of whom was based on merit. Also during
this time, commerce was stimulated through the introduction of
coinage and technological improvements. Iron came into general
use, making possible not only the forging of weapons of war but
also the manufacture of farm implements. Public works on a grand
scale--such as flood control, irrigation projects, and canal
digging--were executed. Enormous walls were built around cities
and along the broad stretches of the northern frontier.
So many different philosophies developed during the late Spring
and Autumn and early Warring States periods that the era is often
known as that of the Hundred Schools of Thought
(
). From the Hundred
Schools of Thought came many of the great classical writings on
which Chinese practices were to be based for the next two and
one-half millennia. Many of the thinkers were itinerant
intellectuals who, besides teaching their disciples, were
employed as advisers to one or another of the various state
rulers on the methods of government, war, and diplomacy.
The body of thought that had the most enduring effect on
subsequent Chinese life was that of the School of Literati (ru
or 
),
often called the Confucian school in the West. The written legacy
of the School of Literati is embodied in the Confucian Classics
(
--
,
, 
,
, and 
from which the period derived its name),
which were to become the basis for the order of traditional
society. Confucius (551-479 B.C.), also called Kong Zi,
(
) or Master
Kong, looked to the early days of Zhou rule for an ideal social
and political order. He believed that the only way such a system
could be made to work properly was for each person to act
according to prescribed relationships. "Let the ruler be a ruler
and the subject a subject," (
)
he said, but he added that to rule
properly a king must be virtuous. To Confucius, the functions of
government and social stratification were facts of life to be
sustained by ethical values. His ideal was the junzi
(
or ruler's
son), which came to mean gentleman in the sense of a cultivated
or superior man.
Mencius (372-289 B.C.), or
Meng Zi
(
),
was a Confucian disciple who
made major contributions to the humanism of Confucian thought.
Mencius declared that man was by nature good. He expostulated the
idea that a ruler could not govern without the people's tacit
consent and that the penalty for unpopular, despotic rule was the
loss of the "mandate of heaven."
The effect of the combined work of Confucius, the codifier and interpreter of a system of relationships based on ethical behavior, and Mencius, the synthesizer and developer of applied Confucian thought, was to provide traditional Chinese society with a comprehensive framework on which to order virtually every aspect of life
There were to be accretions to the corpus of Confucian thought, both immediately and over the millennia, and from within and outside the Confucian school. Interpretations made to suit or influence contemporary society made Confucianism dynamic while preserving a fundamental system of model behavior based on ancient texts.
Diametrically opposed to Mencius, for example, was the
interpretation of Xun Zi (
ca. 300-237 B.C.), another Confucian
follower. Xun Zi preached that man is innately selfish and evil
and that goodness is attainable only through education and
conduct befitting one's status. He also argued that the best
government is one based on authoritarian control, not ethical or
moral persuasion.
Xun Zi's unsentimental and authoritarian inclinations were
developed into the doctrine embodied in the School of Law
(
or fa),
or Legalism. The doctrine was formulated by Han Fei Zi
(
d. 233
B.C.) and Li Si (
d. 208 B.C.),
who maintained that human nature
was incorrigibly selfish and therefore the only way to preserve
the social order was to impose discipline from above and to
enforce laws strictly. The Legalists exalted the state and sought
its prosperity and martial prowess above the welfare of the
common people. Legalism became the philosophic basis for the
imperial form of government. When the most practical and useful
aspects of Confucianism and Legalism were synthesized in the Han
period (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), a system of governance came into
existence that was to survive largely intact until the late
nineteenth century. Taoism (
), the second most
important stream of Chinese thought, also developed during the
Zhou period. Its formulation is attributed to the legendary sage
Lao Zi (
or Old Master),
said to predate Confucius, and Zhuang Zi
(
)
(369-286 B.C.). The focus of Taoism is the individual in nature
rather than the individual in society. It holds that the goal of
life for each individual is to find one's own personal adjustment
to the rhythm of the natural (and supernatural) world, to follow
the Way (dao) of the universe. In many ways the opposite of rigid
Confucian moralism, Taoism served many of its adherents as a
complement to their ordered daily lives. A scholar on duty as an
official would usually follow Confucian teachings but at leisure
or in retirement might seek harmony with nature as a Taoist
recluse.
The Taoist approach to life is embodied in the classic
Dao De Jing
(
).
Another strain of thought dating to the Warring States Period is
the school of yin-yang (
) and the five elements. The theories of
this school attempted to explain the universe in terms of basic
forces in nature, the complementary agents of yin (dark, cold,
female, negative) and yang (light, hot, male, positive) and the
five elements (water, fire, wood, metal, and earth). In later
periods these theories came to have importance both in philosophy
and in popular belief.
Still another school of thought was based on the doctrine of Mo
Zi (
470-391 B.C.?), or Mo Di. Mo Zi believed that "all men are
equal before God" and that mankind should follow heaven by
practicing universal love. Advocating that all action must be
utilitarian, Mo Zi condemned the Confucian emphasis on ritual and
music. He regarded warfare as wasteful and advocated pacificism.
Mo Zi also believed that unity of thought and action were
necessary to achieve social goals. He maintained that the people
should obey their leaders and that the leaders should follow the
will of heaven. Although Moism failed to establish itself as a
major school of thought, its views are said to be "strongly
echoed" in Legalist thought. In general, the teachings of Mo Zi
left an indelible impression on the Chinese mind.
Another good source of information about Chinese philosophy on the web can be found in the Chinese Philosophy page by Su Tzu.