The Hundred Schools of Thought (simplified Chinese: 诸子百家; traditional Chinese: 諸子百家; pinyin: zhūzǐ bǎijiā; Wade–Giles: chu-tzu pai-chia; literally "all philosophers hundred schools") were philosophers and schools that flourished from 770 to 221 BC during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period (春秋戰國時代/春秋战国时代), an era of great cultural and intellectual expansion in China. Even though this period was fraught with chaos and bloody battles, it is also known as the Golden Age of Chinese philosophy because a broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed and discussed freely. This phenomenon has been called the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought (百家爭鳴/百家争鸣; bǎijiā zhēngmíng; pai-chia cheng-ming; "hundred schools contend"). The thoughts and ideas discussed and refined during this period have profoundly influenced lifestyles and social consciousness up to the present day in East Asian countries. The intellectual society of this era was characterized by itinerant scholars, who were often employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of government, war, and diplomacy. This period ended with the rise of the Qin Dynasty and the subsequent purge of dissent.
Read more about Hundred Schools Of Thought: Schools Listed in The Shiji, Schools Listed in The Hanshu, Unlisted Schools, History and Origins
Famous quotes containing the words schools and/or thought:
“The shrewd guess, the fertile hypothesis, the courageous leap to a tentative conclusion—these are the most valuable coin of the thinker at work. But in most schools guessing is heavily penalized and is associated somehow with laziness.”
—Jerome S. Bruner (b. 1915)
“But real action is in silent moments. The epochs of our life are not in the visible facts of our choice of a calling, our marriage, our acquisition of an office, and the like, but in a silent thought by the way-side as we walk; in a thought which revises our entire manner of life, and says,—”Thus hast thou done, but it were better thus.””
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)