During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, many schools of thought and great thinkers appeared, including: Confucianism: Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi; Taoism: Laozi and Zhuangzi; Mojia: Mozi; Fajia: Han Feizi, Li Si, and Shang Martingale; Bingjia: Sun Wu and Sun Zhen; Famous Artists: Deng Yan and Hui Shi; Yin and Yang: Zou Yan; ZonghengJia: Su Qin and Zhang Yi; Miscellaneous Family: Lü Buwei; And Peasant: Xu Xing.
The "hundred schools of thought" in the Spring and Autumn Period are inseparable from the social changes and historical and cultural transformation of the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the ritual system representing slavery gradually collapsed, and society was in a period of rapid and great change. At this time, the productive forces have been improved to a certain extent, advanced production tools and smelting technologies have emerged, and the social economy has also been developed to a certain extent. In particular, the emergence of iron smelting technology has caused iron agricultural tools to be widely used in agricultural production, the efficiency of agricultural production has been greatly improved, a large number of wastelands have been reclaimed, the area of private land has been expanded, the emerging slave owners have mastered more and more private land, and the economic strength has been greatly expanded. They are not satisfied with their original political rights, and their contradictions with the original large aristocratic landlord class are getting bigger and bigger.
With the improvement of labor productivity, the tax system has also changed accordingly, and the change from servitude rent to rent in kind during the previous well field system, as well as the promotion of new agricultural tools and farming techniques, allowed more people to be freed from heavy production labor and engage in other work, so that the social division of labor has also been improved. This will lead to another divergence of the social class structure, and the emergence of new social classes such as merchants and craftsmen. These social changes were a fundamental cause of political and cultural pluralism in the Spring and Autumn Period.
Politically speaking, the collapse of the lis and the lele led to the loss of the old authority represented by Zhou Tianzi, and a new situation of "lile conquest from the princes" appeared, the zhou dynasty's sub-feudal system was constantly denied, some princely states were destroyed by other princely states, and the power of the monarchs of the princely states was also affected by the emerging Qing Dafu. The State of Lu had the "Three Huans for The Government" of Ji Sun, Meng Sun and Uncle Sun, and the State of Jin was directly divided up by the Three Qing Masters. As for the princes who do not abide by the etiquette system and enjoy the treatment that only the Son of Heaven can enjoy, and play the "Eight Pretty" dance when drinking, there are countless more.
Turbulent spring and autumn
During the Spring and Autumn Period, many wars also occurred between various princely states because of their interests. These wars are all to satisfy the selfish interests of the monarchs, so there is a saying that "there is no righteous war in the Spring and Autumn". In order to maintain the war, all the princely states have intensified the exploitation of the common people, and the laborers bear a heavy burden, as Guan Zi said, "the people participate in their strength, the two are in the public, and the food and clothing are one", the class struggle tends to become fierce, and many countries have expelled or killed the monarch.
Chinese history tells us that in the era of political stability, the development of ideas is relatively balanced; in the turbulent years, the speed of development of ideology and culture will increase at a certain rate. During this period, there was an important phenomenon, that is, the emergence and activity of the class of intellectuals, that is, "scholars".
During the Zhou Dynasty, not everyone had the right to study culture, and only the children of princes and nobles were eligible to enter the school. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the boom in private schools arose, advocating "teaching without class", and the objects of education were not distinguished from the noble and the lowly, which greatly increased the number of educated people, and these people were "scholars".
Confucius School Map
Because "scholars" have a certain cultural knowledge and can be used by rulers, the style of raising soldiers has arisen among many nobles. The famous four princes of the Warring States all raised thousands of disciples, and many outstanding figures in the "soldiers" were reused and even served as secretaries of state. In order to attract talents, the princely states often adopted a tolerant policy toward the "scholars", giving these "scholars" a certain degree of ideological and academic freedom. This has created conditions for "scholars" to write books and make statements, express their personal opinions, and form their own ideas, thus promoting ideological emancipation.
Let's take the State of Qi as an example to talk about the process of ideological emancipation and the emergence of a hundred schools of thought.
The State of Qi was the first hegemon in the Spring and Autumn Period, which was inseparable from their developed economy, enlightened politics, and a good cultural and educational environment. In order to attract "scholars", the State of Qi gave these people preferential treatment, bringing together talents from various countries in the Minoru Academy Palace, making it a state-of-the-art academic research site.
In terms of function, the Minoru Gakugu is the think tank of the State of Qi. According to the political needs of the King of Qi, they created public opinion, designed blueprints, and drew up a system of canons, where talents from all walks of life carried out academic exchanges and cultural dissemination, "discussing without ruling the country", although they did not hold actual positions, they could discuss current politics and state affairs, and this kind of discussion was in a relaxed and free political atmosphere, which was of great help to the political suggestions of the rulers of the State of Qi and the strength of the State of Qi.
The Jixia Xuegong has provided scholars of all schools with the good environment and conditions provided by the State of Qi, so that both Confucians, Legalists, Zonghengjia, Yin and Yang families can exchange ideas here, so that various ideas can discuss with each other, compete with each other, learn from each other's strong points, and enrich and develop the doctrines of their respective schools.
In addition to the State of Qi, other countries have also increased the treatment of intellectuals, and academic research in various countries is also in the ascendant. In the Wei State Xihe School, many people also became good ministers in the world.
Politically, it was a period of great social change, social unrest, and various princely states were in strife. In order to gain hegemony in the struggle, the monarchs of the various princely states competed to recruit talents and adopt different ideas and doctrines to make their countries rich and powerful. This has created a relaxed environment for the formation and contention of the hundred families.
Economically, the economy developed tremendously during the Spring and Autumn Period, which made some people an idle class and had time to engage in their own academic activities.
In terms of science and technology, science and technology at that time made great progress, and people's understanding of things was constantly improved, and they had the capital to understand and study the spiritual world of people.
Culturally speaking, the cultural scholarship monopolized by the original aristocracy has spread to the lower strata of society, and more and more people have the qualifications to study, and the soil for the emergence of various ideas has been increased.
Generally speaking, the class struggle between the emerging landlord class and the declining slave owners in the society at that time enabled various cultural ideas to take root. These different schools of cultural thought are the foundation of Chinese culture and have a very important influence on later Chinese culture.