[2] The Han dynasty Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Tan looked back on the Warring States era and grouped the thinkers into the major philosophical schools, Confucianism, Legalism, and Taoism, along with philosophies that later fell into obscurity, like Agriculturalism, Mohism, Chinese Naturalism, and the Logicians.

[4] The debate over whether the thought of ancient Chinese masters should be called philosophy has been discussed since the introduction of this academic discipline into China.

[citation needed] When the Shang were overthrown by the Zhou a new political, religious and philosophical concept was introduced called the Mandate of Heaven.

[7] Confucianism developed during the Spring and Autumn period from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 BCE), who considered himself a retransmitter of Zhou values.

His philosophy concerns the fields of ethics and politics, emphasizing personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, traditionalism, and sincerity.

[9] Confucianism was and continues to be a major influence in Chinese culture, the state of China and the surrounding areas of East Asia.

Confucianism largely became the dominant philosophical school of China during the early Han dynasty following the replacement of its contemporary, the more Taoist Huang-Lao.

Anti-Qing dynasty revolutionaries, involved in the Xinhai Revolution, saw Western philosophy as an alternative to traditional philosophical schools; students in the May Fourth Movement called for completely abolishing the old imperial institutions and practices of China.

The most notable examples are Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People ideology and Mao Zedong's Maoism, a variant of Marxism–Leninism.

Of the many schools founded at this time and during the subsequent Warring States period, the four most influential ones were Confucianism, Daoism (often spelled "Taoism"), Mohism and Legalism.

The concepts yin and yang represent two opposing forces that are permanently in conflict with each other, leading to perpetual contradiction and change.

[15] Philosopher Han Fei synthesized together earlier the methods of his predecessors, which famous historian Sima Tan posthumously termed Legalism.

In Han Fei's philosophy, a ruler should govern his subjects by the following trinity: What has been termed by some as the intrastate Realpolitik of the Warring States period was highly progressive, and extremely critical of the Confucian and Mohist schools.

[16] 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).

The Agriculturalist king is not paid by the government through its treasuries; his livelihood is derived from the profits he earns working in the fields, not his leadership.

[19] Unlike the Confucians, the Agriculturalists did not believe in the division of labour, arguing instead that the economic policies of a country need to be based upon an egalitarian self sufficiency.

He also was a promoter of the New Text school, which considered Confucius as a divine figure and a spiritual ruler of China, who foresaw and started the evolution of the world towards the Universal Peace.

In particular, they refuted the assumption of Confucius as a godlike figure and considered him as the greatest sage, but simply a human and mortal The 3rd and 4th centuries saw the rise of the Xuanxue (mysterious learning), also called Neo-Taoism.

Buddhism arrived in China around the 1st century AD, but it was not until the Northern and Southern, Sui and Tang dynasties that it gained considerable influence and acknowledgement.

Mahayana Buddhism was far more successful in China than its rival Hinayana, and both Indian schools and local Chinese sects arose from the 5th century.

The power of the Buddhist clergy was so great and the wealth of the monasteries so impressive, that it instigated criticism from Confucian scholars, who considered Buddhism as a foreign religion.

In 845 Emperor Wuzong ordered the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution, confiscating the riches and returning monks and nuns to lay life.

A peculiar feature of these Taoist thinkers, like the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, was the concept of feng liu (lit.

Buddhism is a religion, a practical philosophy, and arguably a psychology, focusing on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, who lived on the Indian subcontinent most likely from the mid-6th to the early 5th century BCE.

Neo-Confucianism was a revived version of old Confucian principles that appeared around the Song dynasty, with Buddhist, Taoist, and Legalist features.

Its concepts include li (principle, akin to Plato's forms), qi (vital or material force), taiji (the Great Ultimate), and xin (mind).

Song dynasty philosopher Zhou Dunyi (1017–1073) is commonly seen as the first true "pioneer" of Neo-Confucianism, using Daoist metaphysics as a framework for his ethical philosophy.

[25] By the time of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, there were many calls such as the May Fourth Movement to completely abolish the old imperial institutions and practices of China.

There have been attempts to incorporate democracy, republicanism, and industrialism into Chinese philosophy, notably by Sun Yat-Sen at the beginning of the 20th century.

[citation needed] When the Chinese Communist Party took over in 1949, previous schools of thought were denounced as backward, and later purged during the Cultural Revolution as part of the campaign against the Four Olds.