The Philosophers Of The Warring States And The Seven Warring States

During the Warring State period there were seven leading states that were also referred to as the seven kingdoms of ancient China that existed from 475 to 221 BCE. Thus, it was referred to as a seven warring state. The names of these states are as followed:

1. Qin state: It was the ancient Chinese state that existed during the time of the Zhou Dynasty that was traditionally dated to 987 BC. It originated after the reconquest of the western land that was previously conquered by Rong. The position of this particular state that was situated on the western edge of Chinese civilization allowed it to be suitable for expansion that its rivals in the North China Plain could not aim for. Thus in the 3rd century, post the massive “Legalist '' reforms, the Qin state emerged as the dominant power among all the seven warring states. 

2. Qi state: Qi or Chi belonged to the Wade–Giles civilization system for the Mandarin Chinese and was the state of the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China. It was a well-calculated duchy, march and an independent kingdom. Yanqui was the capital of this state located within present-day Linzi in Shandong. It was founded soon after Zhou overthrew Shang in the 11th century. Zing Ziya ho is otherwise a very legendary figure of Chinese history who became the first minister of King Weng. 

3. Chu state: Chu state belonged to the Wade–Giles civilization system for the Mandarin Chinese and was the state of the Zhou Dynasty vassal state. In the early 8th century BCE, King Wu of Chu was the first king of the states. This state was located in the heartland of the south of Zhou and it lasted till the spring and autumn period. At the end of 223 BC, this date was destroyed by Queen which was during the warring States period. This war is often known as Qin's war of unification.

4. Yan State: It was the ancient Chinese state that existed during the time of the Zhou Dynasty. Ji was the capital of the Yan state which was later named Yanjing and in the modern world, it is known as Beijing. Xiadu became another capital at times during the Warring state period and the court was moved accordingly. In the early first millennium BC, the history of Yan began in the Western Zhou. In the 8th century BC, during the Spring and Autumn period, after the authority of the Zhou king declined, Yan survived and became one of the strongest states in China.

5. Han State:  It was the ancient Chinese state that existed during the time of the Warring States period of ancient China. To distinguish it from the later Han dynasty, later the scholars romanized the state as Hann. It was located in a region south and east of Luoyang that was a part of central China. It was the capital of Eastern Zhou. It was ruled by the family that served as a former minister in the dynasty of Jin and slowly acquired all the power from the royal dynasty. 

6. Zhao states: It was the ancient Chinese state that existed during the time of the Warring States period of ancient China. It was developed in the 5th century BC by the three-way partition of the states namely Zin, Han and Wei. During king Wuling’s regime, the state gained much power due to his military reforms but later it experienced a crushing defeat against Qin at the Battle of Changping. It has its territories with the modern-day Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces.

7. Wei state: It is one of the seven major states that belonged to the Warring States period of ancient China. It was developed in the 5th century BC by the three-way partition of the states namely Zin, Han and Zhao states. The states Qin and Qi include the territory of the Wei state.  

Confucianism

As feudal lords fought over land, towards the end of the Zhou dynasty, there emerged Kong Fuzi who was a scholar as well as a government minister whose name was later Latinized as Confucius by sixteenth-century Jesuits. With his teachings of the classics such as the ancient Zhou-era Book of Documents, the Book of Odes and The Book of Changes, he started gaining a lot of disciples and students. 

He was a low aristocrat himself and thus wanted to reform the framework of status, class, and hierarchy in society. His main motive was to cultivate ethnicity and intellect among the class of leaders. Confucius mostly taught the text that was ancient in Confucius' time. He believed in the text that was completely aligned with the philosophy of filial piety that nurtures respect for parents as well as elders. Thus his philosophy was all about respect for the past along with the traditions that were followed. Most of his philosophies and the idea of respecting the traditions of the past have been constantly circulating in Chinese society for many years. 

Legalism 

Qui was among the seven states of the Zhou Dynasty of the Warring States Period of Chinese history, from 475 to 221 BCE. the first young ruler of the Qin dynasty named King Zheng, would later become Qin Shi Huangdi in 221 BCE. It was considered the first dynasty to unify China. Thus, if we look at a century and a half earlier, we might notice Legalism became one of the key influences in the Qin dynasty. 

Legalism has always been in support of strict law and order and harsh punishments that could be collective in nature. It was one of the major reasons for the despotism of Qin Shi Huangdi and the introduction of centralized rule. Shang Yang who was a reformist statesman from the state of Qin was behind the establishment of Legalism. His idea of humanity was profoundly different from that of the former. In his book, he recommended harsh punishments for a small offence. He reasoned it saying that if the haram punishments are subjected to petty matters then the severe crimes would be deterred. 

Under his regime, the people were under highly constrained lives where villagers were not allowed to travel without the travel permits, the peasants who could not fulfil the quota for the growing grains would be forced into slave labourers. It also diminished the strength of the aristocrats and concentrated all the powers of the lands and the administration under one royal family. This has given the rulers and the feudal lords direct powers over the lives of the people of Qui. Trading was restricted and most of the labours were either forced into military services or agriculture. As the powers of the royals decreased under this regime, it resulted in the formation of an administrative body that was directly answerable to the Qin emperor. Their only task was to convert the will of the ruler into action.  

Daoism

Confucianism or legalism, both demands one to strictly adhere to the rules where one is based on law enforcement and the other one is shame enforcement. But unlike these two, Daoism is not based on enforcement of any regulation rather than just Dao that is referred to as a way. According to the Dao philosophy, the man who speaks does not know and the man who does know shuts his mouth and closes his gates. Thus it was often defined as a resistance to any definition or description and is considered as a nameless shapeless but creative force of the universe.it is a form of anti-activism that inculcate one’s wishful ignorance seeking no knowledge and not adhering to the public or the political life. 

Daoists were never convinced that the royals or the governments could anyway create a social harmony and law and order system in a society. Thus they shifted their focus on the day-to-day life of the individuals to align them according to the harmony of the Dao or the way of living.