Persuasion and Propaganda Ancient China (chapter draft), part 2: the Hundred Schools of Thought

The Warring States and the Hundred Schools of Thought

The core of classical Chinese philosophical tradition emerged during a tumultuous period of ancient Chinese history, during which the civilization transitioned from a decentralized feudal system into a unified empire. We begin this section with a brief and high-altitude overview of the historical background for those who are not familiar with ancient Chinese history. The time frame would be the Chunqiu-Zhanguo era (lit., “Periods of Spring and Autumn and the Warring States”) which lasted from c.770 to 221 BCE  

The Spring and Autumn period of Classical Chinese history, from approximately 771 to 476 BCE. The nominal seat of dynastic power, Zhou Tianzi (lit “Son of Heaven”) had rapidly declined, and in Confucious’ own words, that the “ancient feudal rite and hymns have crumbled （禮樂崩壞）.” It was a time when former Zhou feudal domains became de-facto independent sovereign states. Larger states swallow smaller ones. Rapid land reforms and power restructurings took place across major Chinese states in order to claim economic and military supremacy over their peers. Various great powers rose and fell throughout this period, constantly at war against one other for achieving hegemony over Tianxia.

The Warring States period is also when the coin-based cash economy rapidly took off throughout China-proper. Of course this did not happen overnight, but based on ample material evidence, the cash economy did intensify within a relatively short period, as major states began to implement similar types of sweeping bureaucratic governance reforms and centrally managed crop buy-out policies to remain competitive. By the time of the late Warring States era, your “average” peasant say in the state of Wei or Zhao or any major power, not only was paid by the central government, in cash, to purchase his grains for strategic reserve, he is also likely to be drafted every so often, for a fixed term, to perform infrastructure labor or serve in the military, and paid a stipend at least in part in the form of cash coins.

Consequently, old feudal aristocratic powers were displaced by an emerging class of scholar-officials, many of whom came from humble, non-noble backgrounds including Confucious and his disciples. Members of this new literati class often traveled throughout China and offered their knowledge and service to the most promising state sponsor.   

Because of the intense interstate competition and the increasing demand for scholar-officials, philosophies flourished throughout the Chunqiu-Zhanguo era.  Early Han historian Sima Qian used the term zhūzǐ bǎijiā (諸子百家), or “Hundred Schools of Thought” to describe this unprecedented expansion and diversification of Chinese intellectual outputs. Many philosophical texts from this historical moment – such as the Analects, Tao Te Ching, and Sun Tzu’s Art of War have become widely known outside of China. See the timeline in figure 2 below for a partial list of key figures from the Hundred Schools of Thought (top row). The timeline also includes contemporaneous Indo-European thinkers at the bottom row for clearer time reference:

Although technically from a time three centuries prior to the Hundred Schools of Thought, Duke Wen of Zhou (周公旦,  top-leftmost on the timeline) influenced virtually all subsequent figures of classical Chinese philosophy. He is credited with authoring Zhōu Lǐ (周禮, “Rites of Zhou) which served as the foundational constitutional text for all subsequent Chinese dynasties. He is also credited for compiling the foundational philosophical treatise known in Chinese simply as Shū (書, “the Book”) or Shang Shu (尚書, “Esteemed Book”). It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to various historical figures from early Chinese Antiquity and semi-mythological sage kings, which formalizes Heaven Worship and the concept of the Mandate of Heaven. It is difficult to overstate the importance of Heaven Worship in traditional Chinese political theology. Being the one and only officially recognized imperial cult, it provided the ideological basis for the legitimacy of the imperial system up until the early 20th century. 

It is impossible to accurately explain any single philosophical school within the Hundred Schools of Thought without gross oversimplification and/or misrepresentation within this chapter, let alone covering all of them. However, it might be worthwhile to limit the scope of our overview on three schools of thought widely considered by Chinese historians to be the most influential – Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism – and focus only on their most representative concepts specifically relating to the art of persuasion. The table below provides a quick beginner’s guide in this regard, and feel free to click on the text links to learn more about these concepts:

Click here to continue: Persuasion and Propaganda in Ancient China (chapter draft) Part 3: Confucian, Daoist, and Legalist Rhetoric