Let a Hundred Schools Contend

What was Ancient China like before it became a unified Empire? The Chunqiu and Zhanguo periods were a turbulent time for the Middle Kingdom — numerous states waged bloody wars for decades for hegemony on the Great Chinese Plain. Nevertheless, this era is remembered not as a century of warfare, but as a century of philosophers. It was the time of Confucius, Laozi, Mencius, and many other thinkers; a time when dozens of outstanding philosophers, scholars, and diplomats wandered through the states of the Middle Kingdom, seeking to apply their knowledge and abilities. They all envisioned China's future differently, and it is these disagreements — known in history as the «contestation of a hundred schools» — that largely laid the foundations of the ancient culture that is still cherished in the Middle Kingdom today.