4. The Contention of a Hundred Schools
The Warring States Period, which lasted about two hundred and
fifty years, was marked by important social and political changes.
Wars and annexations greatly reduced the number of states. Among
those left there were seven big powers, which were constantly trying
to win hegemony either by plotting or by fighting. In order to in-
crease their economic and military strength, some of the states start-
ed reforms. The most effective reform was carried out by Shang
Yang in the state of Qin. It was effective because it suited the new
social conditions brought about by the transition from a slave to a feu-
dal society.
Along with the social and political changes there arose important
philosophers and profound philosophical theories. Schools of thought
appeared one after another. Each school had its main theorist and fol-
lowers. They wrote books to propagate their views and criticize their
opponents' fallacies. Later people called this phenomenon the "con-
tention of a hundred schools" though in fact there were not so many
contending schools of thought.
One school was led by Mo Di, commonly called Mo Zi. He
probably lived between 480 and 420 BC. A craftsman in his youth,
he later became a scholar. He first studied Confucianism but then op-
posed it. Many modern historians have high opinions of him, saying !
that he spoke for the interests of the working people of his time. Like
Confucius he travelled over long distances to visit the rulers of differ-
ent states, trying in vain to persuade them to adopt his political prin-
ciples.
Among his important views were: using virtuous men as offi-
cials, unifying thought, practising economy, simplifying funerals,
discarding music and other enjoyments, denouncing fatalism, oppos-
ing aggression, and practising universal love. The best-known of
these was the theory of universal love. He said that one should regard
other states as one's own, other families as one's own, and other
people's bodies as one's own. If the rulers of states loved one anoth-
er, there would be no fighting; if the heads of families loved one an-
other, there would be no seizure of property; if people loved one an-
other, there would be no attacks. If all the people in the world loved
one another, the strong would not oppress the weak, the many
would not bully the few, the rich would not insult the Ix)or, the hon-
ored would not despise the humble, and the cunning would not de-
ceive the simple-minded. Universal love would prevent all hatred,
calamities, and hostilities.
Meng Kc, also known as Meng Zi or Mencius, was born in Zou
in the state of Lu. His family was poor when he was young. It was
said that his mother moved house three times so that her son could
live in a good neighbourhood. He was taught by one of Zisi's disci-
ples, Zisi being Confucius' grandson. After he became a well-known
scholar, he, too, went to many states to talk with their rulers about
the right way of government. His views were respected, but not
adopted. In his old age, he wrote the Mencius with the help of some
of his disciples.
In his political theory he upheld Cmffucius' principles of rule by
virtue and humane government. He said that a benevolent ruler cer-
tainly had the people's support, while a ruthless ruler was hated and
would eventually be overthrown by the people. One of his famous
sayings was: "The people are the most venerable; next come the gods
of land and crops; and the king is the least important. "This saying
contains some democratic spirit.
He held that only those who are morally good can be good rulers
or officials. Four moral qualities are most important: humanity,
rightness, propriety, and wisdom. These qualities are inherent in
man, for they are endowed by Heaven. Everyone has the feeling o{
sympathy or commiseration, the feeling of shame and resentment,
the feeling of respect and modesty, and the feeling of right and
wrong. From these feelings grow the above four qualities.
As there are these inborn feelings, human nature is good. But
some people are degenerate, even evil, because their good qualities
have been obscured by material longings. This possibility shows the
necessity of self-cultivation and self-discipline.
In short, Mencius upheld Confucius' principles and in some
ways developed Confucianism. Many later rulers and scholars re-
spected him and called him the "Second Sage", second only to Confu-
cius.
Zhuang Zi, whose name was Zhuang Zhou, was born in eastern
Henan. His dates are not certain(about 369 - 286 BC), and little is
known about his life. According to the Zhuang Zi, the book he is
believed to have written, he was poor all his life, sometimes trying to
earn a living by making straw sandals, and he was never an impor-
tant official. Once the king of Chu, who had heard about his learning
and personality, sent a man to him with the message that the king
wished to use him as the prime minister. Zhuang Zi refused. He said
that an ox which was to be used as a sacrifice was well fed, but would
be killed when the day came. He preferred to live like a fish in mud-
dy water and enjoy himself.
Zhuang Zi inherited and developed Lao Zi's philosophy. Like
Lao Zi, he regarded wuwei (nonaction)as the best way of govern-
ment. In primitive times, he said, people grew crops and wove
cloth, and were not divided into groups or classes. They did not talk
about virtues like humanity, rightness, propriety or wisdom. They
were not interested in fame or wealth. They lived a free and happy
life--a life in agreement with man's nature. He said that the minister
who had killed a ruler and taken over his power would invariably call
himself a humane man. So names of virtues could be used as a shield
by evil-doers to protect themselves. In this way he exposed the
hypocrisy of the ruling class. He wanted to do away with all political
and social systems and go back to the primitive age.
He agreed with Lao Zi that Tao gave birth to the universe and
the myriad things in the universe. Tao was a formless material and
might be called wu (nonbeing), but it produced all the things with
forms. Tao was also qi (air), which integrated and became concrete
things. When concrete things disintegrated, they returned to qi.
This also applied to human beings. When a person died, he or she re-
turned to qi. It was nothing to be sad about. Death was even a bless-
ing, for it meant peace and freedom. When his wife died, he sang to
show his congratulations.
He said that man should live a life that suited his original na-
ture. If he could get rid of desires for fame, wealth, and position, he
would be able to have peace, freedom and leisure. Things that are
natural are good, and things that are artificial are bad. An ideal per-
son is one who is entirely at one with nature, accepts whatever hap-
pens to him, has no goal, and makes no conscious effort to achieve
anything.
Those who had carried out reforms including Shang Yang were
generally called the Legalists. They had an entirely different under-
standing of the social and political problems facing the states and of-
fered very different solutions. Instead of preaching moral principles,
nonaction or universal love, they stressed the necessity of making and
enforcing laws. In addition, they held that authority and the method
of using men were also important factors in effective government.
These views were forcefully explained in the writing of Han Fei
(about 280 ~ 233 BC), the synthesizer of Legalist theories.
Han Fei was born into a noble family in the state of Han. Seeing
the weakness of his state, be wrote many letters to the king, sug-
gesting ways to make it strong, but the king ignored them. Then he
devoted his time to writing a book expressing his views. It was called
Hah Fei Zi. The king of Qin, who later unified China, happened to
read the book, and admired the writer's learning and ideas. The king
forced Han to send Han Fei to Qin. But, after he arrived in Qin, he
was first thrown into prison and then poisoned to death by Li Si,
Qin's chief minister. Li Si had once studied with Hah, Fei under the
guidance of Xun Qing, a famous scholar, and knew he was not equal
to Han Fei.
According to Han Fei, laws should be made public to all peoplel
and should be strictly enforced. Anyone who did anything good ac-
cording to law should be rewarded, even if he was a common man;!
anyone who did anything against the law should be punished, even i{
he was a high-ranking minister. This was a progressive idea at the
time, because the privileges of the nobility were not taken into ac-i
count.
The theory behind the view of rule by law was his teacher Xun
Qing's assertion that human nature was evil. To Han Fei, relations
between men were determined by nothing but personal gains and
losses. He said that a carriage maker would wish many people were
rich so that they could buy his products, while a coffin maker would
wish many people were dying and had to buy his products. It was
useless to talk to the common people about humanity and rightness.
To make them law-abiding and obedient the ruler had to use severe
punishment. Qin followed this theory and made many harsh laws to
control the people. But this policy, when pushed to the extreme,
would lead to resistance and rebellion. That was why in later dynas-
ties no ruler openly advocated Legalism.
Han Fei held that society was always advancing, and would nev-
er go backward. In primitive times, people lived on trees to escape
from wild animals and got fire by drilling into wood. If anyone lived
like that today, he would be laughed at by all people. He told inter-
esting fables like "Waiting for a Rabbit by the Tree"to ridicule those
people who believed that the past was better than the present.
He saw the connection between material wealth and population.
If population grew faster than material wealth, there might be social
disorder. This was a new theory in his day.
The term rnaodun (contradiction) originated in one of his fa-
bles. A man selling spears and shields boasted that his spears were so
sharp that they could pierce everything, and that his shields were so
strong that nothing could go through them. A spectator then asked
him what would happen if one of his spears was used against one of
his shields, and the man could not answer. Han Fei said that contra-
diction was present everywhere, and the two sides of a contradiction
were changeable--good fortune might change into misfortune,
prosperity into decline, strength into weakness, etc.
Besides the Confucian, Taoist, Moist and Legalist schools that
have been mentioned, there were the Yin-Yang school, the school of
Names or Logicians, the school of Vertical and Horizontal Alliance,
theschool of Strategists, the school of Agriculturalists, and others.
Viewed from the angle of political successes in the Warring States
Period, the Legalists may be said to have won the contention of the
hundred schools. For the state of Qin, which adopted Legalist poli-
cies, conquered the other states and unified China. However, in the
Western Han that followed the Qin, Confucianism, not Legalism,
was made the orthodox thought and was to be the dominant influence
on Chinese thought and culture for about two thousand years.