The Axial Age 轴心世纪、 时代 Karl Jaspers (1883 - 1969)

German philosopher Karl Jaspers coined the term the axial age to describe the period from 800 BC to 200 BC, during which, according to Jaspers, similar revolutionary thinking appeared in China, India and the Occident. The period is also sometimes referred to as the axis age.

Karl Theodor Jaspers (February 23, 1883 – February 26, 1969)

was a German psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry and philosophy. After being trained in and practicing psychiatry, Jaspers turned to philosophical inquiry and attempted to discover an innovative philosophical system.

A Striking Parallel Jaspers, in his Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte

(The Origin and Goal of History 1953), identified a number of key axial age thinkers as having had a profound influence on future philosophy and religion, and identified characteristics common to each area from which those thinkers emerged. Jaspers saw in these developments in religion and philosophy a striking parallel without any obvious direct transmission of ideas from one region to the other, having found no recorded proof of any extensive intercommunication between Ancient Greece, the Middle East, India, and China. Jaspers held up this age as unique, and one to which the rest of the history of human thought might be compared.

Hundred Schools of Thought 諸子百家 zhūzǐ bǎijiā

The term that literally means "all philosophers, hundred schools“ refers to philosophers and schools that flourished from 770 to 221 B.C.E., an era of great cultural and intellectual expansion. It is also known as the Golden Age of Chinese philosophy because a broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed and discussed freely. This phenomenon has been called the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought (百家爭鳴 bǎijiā zhēngmíng). Professor David R. Knechtges prefers a different term: Masters instead of philosophers.

The word “hundred” seems exaggerated. Nevertheless, it is the golden age in Chinese intellectual history. However, since the Han synthesis, Confucianism has gained its dominant position.

Jixia Academy: Lyceum in China in the State of Qi

The Jixia Academy or Academy of the Gate of Qi/Chi-- 稷下学宫 was the most famous scholarly academy of early China. It was founded around 318 BC in the city of Linzi 临淄 , capital of the state of Qi (modern Shandong province), and Jixia was a gate in the city wall. At the time, Linzi was one of the largest, most prosperous cities in the world. For the first time on record a state began to act as a patron of scholarship out of the apparent conviction that this was a proper function of the state or a means of increasing its prestige. Scholars came from great distances to lodge in the academy, with the most important scholar holding the rank of Great Prefect.

The School of Athensby Italian Renaissance artist Raphael

1509-1510, Apostolic Palace 使徒宫 , Vatican City 罗马教廷；梵蒂冈

Plato and Aristotle

Plato holds his book Timaeus

Aristotle holds his book Nicomachean Ethics

Nicomachus (son of Aristotle)

Pre-Qin (221 BCE) Prose Writing Historical Prose & Philosophical Prose

1. 尚书【 shàngshū】 Classic of History "Classic of History", "Classic of Documents", "Book of History", "Book of Documents".

2. 春秋【 chūnqiū】 the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.); The Spring and Autumn Annals; annals; history-- is the official chronicle of the State of Lu covering the period from 722 BCE to 481 BCE. Intrigues of the Warring States 3. 战国策【 Zhànguó Cè】 Intrigues/Strategies of the Warring States

4. Zuo Zhuan--the Commentary of Zuo, 389 BC

Zi , ancient title of respect for learned or virtuous man, masters.

Confucianism: The Analects (put together by his students); Mencius by Mengzi and Xunzi;

Daoism: Dao De Jing and Zhuanzi/Liezi

Legalism: Shang Yang, Li Si, and Han Fei

Mohism by Mozi Philosophical Military

Treatise: The Art of War by Sunzi

The Warring States Period403 BCE to 256 BCE

Partition 分割 of the Jin State (403 BC)

Political Hierarchy Defined by Rites/Rituals of the Zhou Dynasty

Son of Heaven 天子 = Emperor

duke, in charge of a state Marquis 侯爵；世袭贵族 a nobleman or high official; Ministers If an emperor couldn’t go to

Mt. Tai, he had to build a temple;

The Temple of Heaven in Beijing serves such a function;

Only a son of heaven can own nine ding, sacred cauldrons, symbolic of status;

At court, only a son of heaven can order 64 dancing girls, 8 per row/per line;

Who are qualified to go to Mt. Tai to perform feng and shan sacrificial ceremonies?

Transgression 越界

During Duke of You’s (晋幽公 )r. 433 to 416 BC

Three ministers or houses, Zhao, Han and Wei started to divide some territory.

In 416, Marquis Wen of Wei 魏文侯killed Duke of You.

Marquis Wen of Wei 魏文侯 (?～ 396 BC)

Wei became rich by controlling salt. (capital of salt industry, 盐池 ).

Roman soldiers were paid with salt;

Along with its salt business, Wei established a strong army.

A well-learned man

Three Households/MinistersDivided the State of Jin

Duke Lie of Jin 晉烈公 415 BC - 389 BC

In about 401, Zhi Boyao 智伯瑶 , a senior minister who became the “Secretary of the State,” demanded more land from other ministers: Wei Zi 魏斯 , Zhao Ji 赵籍 and Han Qian 韩虔 . Duke of Lie could not control his state at all. Wei and Han bowed to Zhi, but Zhao refused.

Zhi Attacking ZhaoA Dramatic Turn

Zhi led the mid-army; Wei led the left army; Han led the right army; Three armies surrounded Jin

Yang 晋阳 for two years. Zhi used water (River Jin) as

soldiers 以水代兵 and had Jin Yang flooded.

搬起石头砸自己的脚 : the rock he lad lifted landed on his own feet.

To plan to make somebody else miserable but end up getting hurt themselves.

Jin Yang was in great danger. Zhao appealed to Wei and Han.

When boasting about his strategy on the bank of River Jin, it dawned on Wei and Han that they can use the same trick.

Teamed up with Zhao, they let go the water from a branch of River Jin, thus had Zhi’s territory flooded. Zhi 智伯瑶 was killed during the battle.

In 403, Wei, Zhao, and Han went to see the king of Zhou, demanding the status of a state. The new status was officially granted. This incident marked the beginning of the Warring States Period.

What Shifted the Power Structure at a Critical Moment?

Power of Rhetoric

Zhao Ji 赵籍convinced Wei and Han that if they don’t bond together, the Zhi family will swallow them one by one sooner or later.

唇亡齿寒【 chúnwángchǐhán 】

if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold; if one (of two interdependent things) falls, the other is in danger; share a common lot.

Potential Danger (Civil War)in the Partition of the Jin

Fragmentation vs. Unification

Dissolution of the Soviet Union in 198501991

China is in chaos. What is the best for China: united or divided?

If China were fragmented, what would be its impact on the world?

After the First Opium War in 1842, China was divided by invaders from the outside.

Partition of China

How to maintain order? Significance of

Confucianism in China Impact of family structure

and individual conduct on government/nation

Confucius cites The Book of Document, “…Simply by being a good son and friendly to his brothers a man can exert an influence upon government” (The Analects, 17).

Returning of a shopping cart…

Naming the period

Warring States is associated with a book: Strategies of the Warring States 战国策 ), a historical work on the strategies and political views of the School of Diplomacy 纵横家

Another reason is because of the constant civil war.

Eventually seven states merged as strong: Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, Qin.

Guiguzi & Shang Yang Two Consequential Figures

Four Disciples of GuiguziThe Law of the Few/80-20 Rule

Sun Bin 孙膑 vs. Pang Juan 庞涓

Su Qin 苏秦 for teaming up among six states vertically to fight Qin

Zhang Yi 张仪 for Qin-led horizontal alliance

纵横家【 zònghéngjiā 】Political Strategists (in the Warring States Period, 475-221 B.C.) .

纵横【 zònghéng 】 in length and breadth; vertically and horizontally;

Sun Bin (? - 316 BC)

was a military strategist who lived during the Warring States Period. An alleged descendant of Sun Tzu, Sun Bin was tutored in military strategy by the hermit Guiguzi.

The Art of War孙子兵法

Required Reading of MBAs in UShttp://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html

The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise that was written by Sun Tzu in the 6th century BC, during the Spring and Autumn period. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare.

See the text online

Lionel Giles(1875 - 1958)

Read The Art of War online

a Victorian scholar, translator and the son of British diplomat and sinologist, Herbert Giles. Lionel Giles

Lionel Giles is most notable for his 1910 translation of The Art of War by Sun Tzu and The Analects of Confucius. His father was Herbert Giles who established the famous Wade-Giles Chinese Pinyin.

Sun Bin vs. Pang JuanBoth Studied with Guiguzi

Sun Bin (?- 316 BC) memorized The Art of War;

Sworn Brothers; Upon his departure,

Guiguzi gave Sun Bin a slip of paper;

In State of Wei, Pang Juan tricked Sun Bin and had his kneecaps removed/feet cut off and had his face tattooed;

Escape to Qi

In jail, Sun Bin tried to write down The Art of War for Pang Juan;

A servant revealed the true intention of Pang Juan;

Sun Bin feigned madness as Hamlet did, which was the strategy from his teacher as the last resort;

Sun Bin escaped to the State of Qi

Horse Racing 田忌赛马Deliberate Mismatch in Competition

Sun Bin’s friend Tian Ji, a general in Qi, loved horse racing, but he always lost the game.

Sun Bin’s advice: Third class horse vs. Duke Qi’s best horse; First class horse vs. Duke Qi’s second class horse; Second class horse vs. Duke Qi’s third class horse; Tian Ji won 1000 pieces of gold;

Battle of Guiling354 BC

围魏救赵 【 wéiWèijiùZhào】 besiege Wei to rescue Zhao -

relieve the besieged by besieging the base of the besiegers. Marshaled by Pang Juan, Wei attacked Zhao. Zhao’s

capital Han Dan was in great danger. Instead of going directly to Han Dan, which will exhaust

Qi’s troops, Sun Bin suggested Qi attack Wei’s capital Daliang (now Kaifeng, Henan Province);

On his way back to the capital, Pang Juan was ambushed by Qi’s troops;

Pang Juan was caught alive but let go. Pang Juan was humiliated.

Battle of Maling (342 BC)Dazhangjia Town (大張家鎮 ), Shen

County (莘縣 ), Henan Province

In 342, Pang Juan attacked the State of Han (403 BC–230 BC). Sun Bin suggested Qi’s troops wait till both sides got exhausted.

After 5 rounds of bloody fighting, Qi sent its troops to Han’s capital (now Yuzhou).

Qi’s troops pretended defeated and escaped; en route, they reduced the number of camp fires for cooking for bivouac (French), a way to estimate how many troops involved.

At Maling, a valley like a long sack, Pang Juan was ambushed.

End of Zhou (256 BCE)

With the royal line broken, the power of the Zhōu court gradually diminished, and the fragmentation of the kingdom accelerated. From King Píng's reign onwards, the Zhōu kings ruled in name only, with true power lying in the hands of regional nobles or “local snakes”. Towards the end of the Zhōu Dynasty, the nobles did not even bother to symbolically acknowledge loyalty the Jī family, declaring themselves to be independent kings. The dynasty ended in 256 BCE when the last king of Zhōu died and none of his sons proclaimed the nominal title of King of China.