There are four most famous schools in the history of education in China, and a hundred schools of thought contend. Do you know which four schools?

A hundred schools of thought contend refers to different schools of thought among intellectuals in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (475-22 BC1year). The so-called "a hundred schools of thought contend" has no meaning, and there is no real contention.

Traditionally, a hundred schools of thought originated from Sima Qian's father Sima Tan. In the Essentials of Six Classics, he first divided the hundred schools into six schools: Yin and Yang, Confucianism, Mohism, Fame, Legalism and Morality. Later, on the basis of the division of Sima Tan, Liu Xin added ten schools of "vertical and horizontal, miscellaneous, agricultural and novel". Ban Gu criticized Liu Xin in Han Shu Literature and Art Annals, saying: "There are ten philosophers, but only nine are impressed." Later, people went to the novel house and called the remaining nine "nine streams". Since then, all the ancient academic circles in China have been established, and a hundred schools have become "nine streams". Lv Simian, a modern man, added the word "soldier" to his Introduction to Pre-Qin Learning: "Therefore, pre-Qin learning can be divided into twelve schools: Yin and Yang, Confucianism, Mohism, fame, virtue, vertical and horizontal, miscellaneous, agriculture, novels, soldiers and doctors."

A hundred schools of thought contend, also known as philosophers. Hundreds of schools don't mean only hundreds, but collectively. The six schools mentioned above are collectively called the six masters, the masters of Confucianism, Taoism, Taoism and Yin and Yang Mohism. The views and related theories of these six masters are valuable spiritual wealth of our Chinese nation.

Confucianism, in particular, has been the mainstream cultural thought of China for nearly two thousand years, as well as Taoism and Legalism, which can still be used for reference in our modern times.