While we could not describe Confucius ’ life as easy, he did have an easier time of it than his followers in one respect: he did not have to deal with many opponents. After Confucius ’ death, his followers would have to debate other thinkers who had their own strategies to reform the time and who attacked the kinds of things Confucius had proposed. To a large extent, Confucius was spared this.
The Warring States era lasted from 403 to 221 BCE and ended when the state of Qin succeeded in conquering all the other states and unifying China. This dynasty did not last long and was succeeded by the Han dynasty, a much longer one, ruling from 206 BCE to 220 CE, approximately the same length of time as the Roman empire.
It was during the Han dynasty, about a hundred years or more after the thinkers of the Warring States era, that scholars looked back and began to categorize the thinkers and the texts of the Warring States into schools of thought. 1 They set up strict lines among various schools of thought in the
Warring States period and classifi ed thinkers as belonging to Confucian, Mohist, Daoist, Logician, or Strategist schools.
The diffi culty is that the thinkers of the Warring States era did not, in many cases, see themselves as belonging to a school at all. Many of these thinkers, and their texts, include ideas from various sources and do not fi t neatly into one school or another.
So, who were these people if they were not, in many cases, members of a “ school ” ? One of the Chinese phrases to describe the many thinkers of the Warring States is the “ hundred schools of thought. ” While there were not really a hundred schools, the phrase is meant to show the wide variety and the various voices of the time. The thinkers of the Warring States era were scholars and would - be bureaucrats, like Confucius. Like Confucius,
they tried to get a government position where they could infl uence rulers and bring into practice their own ideas about statecraft and reform. The vast majority of the texts from the Warring States period were addressed to rulers, and talk about how to rule well, according to the viewpoint of the author.
As the numbers of these scholar - bureaucrats 2 grew after the death of
Confucius and throughout the Warring States period, it became common for rulers to have these scholars as guests, listen to their advice, engage them in debate, and listen to them debate each other. For some, having scholars on the payroll became a sign of the rulers ’ wealth, status, and high culture. For example, in the state of Qi, the Tian family had overthrown origi- nal rulers of state, and were known as a bloodthirsty lot. They wanted to establish themselves as proper rulers and enhance their reputation. From the 400s to the 300s BCE, they became patrons of scholars, setting up the Jixia Academy and inviting scholars from across China. The scholars were paid well, given pleasant living quarters, servants, and suitable lecture halls. These scholars were not necessarily meant to be part of the government, but they were invited there to discuss various theories and there was a real exchange of ideas. Many of the big names in scholarship visited, or lived in, the Jixia Academy. 3 This academy is the most famous one, but there
were others as well.
The scholar - bureaucrats traveled from state to state to these academies, many with their cartloads of books, trying very hard to make their voices heard, to defeat their opponents in debate, and to reform the government of the time. Some of them did indeed get government jobs. They shared the same concerns Confucius had: the breakdown in central government might well lead to a loss of civilization itself; the times were dangerous and governments corrupt; the common people were in serious trouble while the upper classes and the rich lived in luxury. What they did not agree on was how to solve these problems.
When we look back at this period, we see an exciting and interesting time with people debating everything from the very nature of human beings to how a good government should work. For scholars of the time, these very debates were a sign of how bad things were. If the brightest minds of the country could not agree on how to fi x things, how would China ever survive?
The scholar - bureaucrats were almost entirely upper - class men – though some, like Confucius, may not have been wealthy. They were educated, as Confucius ’ students had been, in the texts of the time, texts like The
Book of History and The Book of Poetry . As the Warring States era pro-
gressed, more and more of these scholars would be taught by other scholar - bureaucrats and would study the books of that particular teacher, or the teacher of their teacher. Some students stayed with one teacher, defending
and passing on those teachings; others were less committed, studying with various teachers. People were identifi ed by, and identifi ed themselves with, this teaching lineage. This student – teacher relationship is at the core of what, in some cases, will develop into identifi able groups.