Editing Chinese culture (section)

=== Hundred Schools of Thought ===
{{Main|Hundred Schools of Thought|Mohism|The Art of War|School of Naturalists}}
[[File:Birth Places of Chinese Philosophers.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Birthplaces of notable Chinese philosophers of the Hundred Schools of Thoughts in the Zhou dynasty.]]

The Hundred Schools of Thought were philosophies and schools that flourished from the 6th century to 221 BC, during the [[Spring and Autumn period]] and the [[Warring States period]] of ancient China.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/112694/Chinese-philosophy#ref171469 "Chinese philosophy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502233005/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/112694/Chinese-philosophy#ref171469 |date=2 May 2015 }}, Encyclopædia Britannica, Retrieved 4 June 2014</ref> While this period was  fraught with chaos and bloody battles, it was an era of great cultural and intellectual expansion in China.<ref>[https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=91219343 Graham, A.C., ''Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China'' (Open Court 1993).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120040622/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=91219343 |date=20 January 2012 }} {{ISBN|0-8126-9087-7}}</ref>  It came to be known as the Golden Age of [[Chinese philosophy]] because a broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed and could be freely discussed. This phenomenon has been called the ''Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought'' (百家爭鳴/百家争鸣; ''bǎijiā zhēngmíng''; ''pai-chia cheng-ming''; "hundred schools contend"). The thoughts and ideas discussed and refined during this period have profoundly influenced [[lifestyle (sociology)|lifestyles]] and [[social consciousness]] up to the present day in China and across East Asia. The [[intellectual]] society of this era was characterized by itinerant scholars, who were often employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of government, war, and diplomacy. This period ended with the rise of the imperial [[Qin dynasty]] and the subsequent [[Burning of books and burying of scholars|purge of dissent]]. A traditional source for this period is the ''Shiji'', or ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'' by [[Sima Qian]]. The autobiographical section of the ''Shiji'', the "Taishigong Zixu" (太史公自序), refers to the schools of thought described below.

Mohism was an [[History of Science and Technology in China|ancient Chinese philosophy]] of [[logic]], [[rational]] thought and [[science]] developed by the [[academic]] [[scholars]] who studied under the ancient Chinese philosopher [[Mozi]] ({{circa|470 BC}}–{{circa|391 BC}}). The philosophy is embodied in an eponymous book: the ''[[Mozi (book)|Mozi]]''. Another group is the School of the Military (兵家; ''Bingjia'') that studied warfare and strategy; [[Sunzi]] and [[Sun Bin]] were influential leaders. The School of Naturalists was a [[Warring States]] era philosophy that synthesized the concepts of [[yin-yang]] and the [[Five elements (Chinese philosophy)|Five Elements]]; [[Zou Yan]] is considered the founder of this school.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/607826/Zou-Yan|title=Zou Yan|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=1 March 2011|archive-date=26 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426150251/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/607826/Zou-Yan|url-status=live}}</ref> His theory attempted to explain the universe in terms of basic forces in nature: the complementary agents of yin (dark, cold, female, negative) and yang (light, hot, male, positive) and the Five Elements or Five Phases (water, fire, wood, metal, and earth).