Hundred Schools of Thought in the context of "Spring and Autumn period"

Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius in the Hundred Schools of Thought era (c. 500 BCE), Confucianism integrates philosophy, ethics, and social governance, with a core focus on virtue, social harmony, and familial responsibility.

Confucianism emphasizes virtue through self-cultivation and communal effort. Key virtues include ren (仁, "benevolence"), yi (義; "righteousness"), li (禮; "propriety"), zhi (智; "wisdom"), and xin (信; "sincerity"). These values, deeply tied to the notion of tian (天; "Heaven"), present a worldview where human relationships and social order are manifestations of sacred moral principles. While Confucianism does not emphasize an omnipotent deity, it upholds tian as a transcendent moral order.

Chinese philosophy (simplified Chinese: 中国哲学; traditional Chinese: 中國哲學) refers to the philosophical traditions that originated and developed within the historical and cultural context of China. It encompasses systematic reflections on issues such as existence, knowledge, ethics, and politics. Evolving over more than two millennia, Chinese philosophy includes classical traditions such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, as well as modern responses to Western philosophical currents. As a cultural form of philosophy, it addresses universal philosophical concerns while also reflecting the specific historical and social conditions of China.

The historical development of Chinese philosophy began during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, a time known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought". Major schools such as Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, and Legalism emerged with distinct views on human nature, social order, and political authority. During the Han dynasty, Confucianism was established as the official ideology, shaping China's intellectual and political systems for centuries. In subsequent eras, Chinese philosophy integrated influences from Indian Buddhism, giving rise to new developments such as Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming dynasties. In the modern period, Chinese thinkers engaged with Western thought, resulting in the emergence of Three Principles of the People, Chinese Marxism, New Confucianism, and other philosophical movements. Throughout the 20th century, these traditions were reshaped by political upheaval and continue to evolve today.

The School of Naturalists or the School of Yin-Yang (simplified Chinese: 阴阳家; traditional Chinese: 陰陽家; pinyin: Yīnyángjiā; Wade–Giles: Yin-yang-chia; lit. 'School of Yin-Yang') was a Warring States-era philosophy that synthesized the concepts of yin-yang and the Five Elements. It was one of the Nine Schools of Thought.

Mohism or Moism (/ˈmoʊɪzəm/, Chinese: 墨家; pinyin: Mòjiā; lit. 'School of Mo') was an ancient Chinese philosophy of ethics and logic, rational thought, and scientific technology developed by the scholars who studied under the ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi (c. 470 BC – c. 391 BC), embodied in an eponymous book: the Mozi. Among its major ethical tenets were altruism and a universal, unbiased respect and concern for all people, stressing the virtues of austerity and utilitarianism. Illuminating its original doctrine, later Mohist logicians were pivotal in the development of Chinese philosophy.

Mohism developed at about the same time as Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism, and was one of the four main philosophic schools from around 770–221 BC, during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period. During that time, Mohism was seen as a major rival to Confucianism. While its influence endured, Mohism almost disappeared as an independent school of thought as it transformed and integrated into sects of Taoism in the wake of the cultural transformations of the Qin dynasty, after 221 BC.

The burning of books and burying of scholars was the purported burning of texts in 213 BCE and live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE ordered by Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang. The events were alleged to have destroyed philosophical treatises of the Hundred Schools of Thought, with the goal of strengthening the official Qin governing philosophy of Legalism.

Modern historians doubt the details of the story, which first appeared more than a century later in the Han dynasty official Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian. As a court scholar, Sima had every reason to denigrate the earlier emperor to flatter his own, but later Confucians did not question the story. According to the historian Ulrich Neininger, their message was, "If you take our life, Heaven will take the life of your dynasty."

Huang–Lao (simplified Chinese: 黄老; traditional Chinese: 黃老; pinyin: Huáng-Lǎo; Wade–Giles: Huang-lao; lit. 'Huangdi–Laozi') was the most influential Chinese school of thought in the early Han dynasty, having its origins in a broader political-philosophical drive looking for solutions to strengthen the feudal order as depicted in Zhou politics. Not systematically explained by historiographer Sima Qian, it is generally interpreted as a school of Syncretism, developing into a major religion, the beginnings of religious Taoism.

Emphasizing the search for immortality, Feng Youlan and Herrlee Creel considered its religious Taoism to be different from if not contradictory to the more philosophical strain of Taoism found in the Zhuangzi. Probably originating together around 300 BCE, the more politically dominant Huang–Lao denoted both for much of the Han. Highly favoured by superstitious rulers, it dominated the intellectual life of the Qin and early Han together with "Chinese Legalism", and the term "Taoism" (Chinese: 道家; pinyin: dàojiā) was probably coined with elements of Huang–Lao literature in mind.