During the Spring and Autumn Period（770–476 BC）and the Warring States Period（475–221 BC），philolophy and culture developed to a peak in China.Various schools of ideas appeared and free arguments and competitions took place.They were later called“the hundred schools of thoughts.”Among them include the Confucian School represented by Confucius，Mencius，and Xunzi;the Taoist School represented by Laozi and Zhuangzi;the Mohist School represented by Mozi;the School of Legalists represented by Han Fei and Shang Yang;the School of Logicians represented by Gongsun Long and Hui Shi;the Yin-Yang School represented by Zou Yan;and the School of Political Strategists represented by Su Qin and Zhang Yi;etc.Confucius and the Confucian School had thegreatest impact in Chinese history.
Confucius is a philosopher，politician，educator，and the founder of the ConfucianSchoolduringthelatteryearsoftheSpringandAutumnPeriod.Heis regarded as a world-class giant with Jesus，Socrates，Mohammed the Prophet，and Sakyamuni the Buddha.Confucius was born in the state of Lu（today’s Qufu in Shangdong Province）.At theage of 30，he took in disciples to spread his doctrines and ideas.At the age of 31，he assumed the office of attorney generalin Lu.Later on，he resigned and toured Wei，Song，Cao，Chen，Cai，and other states with dozens ofhis disciples.He aimed to persuade the monarchs withhis political ideas，but in vain.For fourteen years，he had drifted from place to place，undergone hardships，misunderstanding，and disappointments.He came back to his own country in his later years，mainly engaging in education and literature compilation.He compiled the Book of Songs，Shang Shu（the Ancient Book），and he edited the first chronicle history in China，Spring and Autumn.Confucius advocated the spirit of“education for all，”aiming to spread knowledge，ideas，and moral lessons toordinarypeople’schildren.Hisdisciplesexceedthree thousand in number，among which 72 became outstanding including Zilu，Yan Hui，Zeng Shen，Zigong，etc.The core of the Confucian philosophy is Ren，meaning love，tolerance，honesty，integrity，and responsibility.The Confucian philosophy is both profound and modest.His diciples had gathered and compiled his words and deeds into the Analects，which became the most important work among the“four classics”for the Chinese.