China’s Spring and Autumn (770 BC–403 BC) and Warring States (403 BC–221 BC) periods, though marked by disunity and constant warring, witnessed an unprecedented era of cultural prosperity and intellectual activities. This paper takes this political context and intellectual background into consideration when examining the main schools of thought in that era, and argues that the atmosphere of reform and new ideas was attributed to the struggle for survival among warring regional lords, who needed an ever-increasing number of well-educated officials.
