Thinkers Timeline

Confucius (551-479 BCE) was a Chinese thinker, teacher, and social philosopher. His Chinese name was Kong Qiu, and he is also known as Kongzi, meaning Master Kong. He was born in the state of Lu, in what is now Shandong Province in eastern China, during a period of political disorder known as the Spring and Autumn period, when the Zhou dynasty was fragmenting into competing states. He came from a family that had once been aristocratic but had fallen into genteel poverty. He worked as a teacher for most of his life, believing that education and moral cultivation could transform both individuals and societies. He also worked for a time as a government official, hoping to put his ideas into practice, but became disillusioned and eventually left to travel and teach. He never wrote a book himself: his ideas are preserved in the Analects, a collection of his conversations and sayings compiled by his students after his death. He died in 479 BCE, probably believing that he had failed to influence his world. In fact, his ideas went on to shape the culture, governance, and social life of China and much of East and Southeast Asia for two and a half thousand years.

Mencius was a Chinese philosopher. His Chinese name was Meng Ke, which means 'Master Meng'. Later Chinese tradition called him the 'Second Sage', meaning second only to Confucius himself. The Latin name 'Mencius' was given to him by European Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century. He was born around 371 BCE in the small state of Zou, in what is now Shandong province in eastern China. This was the same region where Confucius had lived over a century earlier. Mencius's father died when he was three years old. His mother raised him alone. Stories about her wisdom became famous in China. In one story, she moved house three times to find a place where her son would have good influences around him. The story of 'Mencius's Mother's Three Moves' is still told in China today. Mencius lived during the Warring States Period. This was a violent time. Several Chinese kingdoms fought each other constantly. Armies swept across the land. Ordinary people suffered terribly from war, high taxes, and harsh rulers. Mencius spent much of his adult life travelling from one kingdom to another, offering advice to their rulers. He wanted them to govern more humanely. Some listened for a while. Most did not take his advice seriously. In the end, he retired from public life, disappointed. His students collected his conversations and teachings in a book. It is called simply the Mencius. The book is long and often funny. Mencius argues with rulers, other philosophers, and his own students. He is sharp, stubborn, and clear. He died around 289 BCE, aged about 82. Nearly 1500 years later, the Mencius became one of the 'Four Books' that every educated Chinese person had to study. His ideas shaped China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam for centuries.

Zhuangzi was a Chinese philosopher of the 4th century BCE. His name means 'Master Zhuang'. His personal name was Zhuang Zhou. He lived during a period called the Warring States, when several Chinese kingdoms fought each other constantly. This was a violent and unstable time. It was also a golden age of Chinese thought. Many of China's most important thinkers lived then: Confucius had lived a generation earlier, Mencius and Laozi were also writing in this period. We know very little for certain about Zhuangzi's life. The historian Sima Qian, writing about 150 years after his death, says he was a minor official in a place called Qiyuan, in what is now Henan province. He was offered a high position by the king of the state of Chu but turned it down. He preferred to live simply. He married and had children. He died in peace, probably in his sixties. The book known as the Zhuangzi is named after him. It has 33 chapters and is one of the great works of world literature. Modern scholars think Zhuangzi himself wrote only the first seven chapters, sometimes called the 'Inner Chapters'. These contain the most famous and powerful writing. The rest of the book was written by his students and later followers over several generations. The Zhuangzi is, along with the Daodejing, the foundation of Daoist philosophy. Together the two books form the core of the Daoist tradition. Unlike most philosophers of his time, Zhuangzi wrote mostly in stories. His book is full of talking animals, wise cooks, strange encounters, and dream sequences. He is one of the first great storytellers in world philosophy. His influence on Chinese literature, art, and humour has been enormous.

Sima Qian was a Chinese historian and writer. He lived from around 145 BCE to about 86 BCE, during the Western Han dynasty. He is often called the father of Chinese history. His great work, the Shiji or Records of the Grand Historian, set the model for how history was written in China for the next 2,000 years. He was born in a small town in what is now Shaanxi province, in central China. His father, Sima Tan, was a court historian and astronomer at the imperial court of Emperor Wu. Sima Qian was educated as a scholar and travelled widely across the Han empire as a young man. He visited important historical sites and gathered materials for what would become his great work. When his father died in 110 BCE, Sima Qian inherited the position of grand historian. In 99 BCE, his life took a terrible turn. A Han general named Li Ling had surrendered to the Xiongnu, a nomadic enemy people. Sima Qian defended Li Ling at court. The emperor was furious. Sima Qian was sentenced to death. He could escape death only by paying a fine he could not afford or by accepting castration. Most men of his class would have chosen suicide. Sima Qian chose castration. He explained later that he had to live to finish his history. The choice was deeply shameful in his society but allowed him to complete the Shiji. He finished the work around 91 BCE and died a few years later. The Shiji has been read continuously ever since.

Ban Zhao was a Chinese historian, poet, and teacher of the Eastern Han dynasty. She is the first known woman historian of China. She was born around 45 CE in Anling, near modern Xianyang in Shaanxi province. Her family was a famous scholarly household. Her father Ban Biao was a respected scholar and historian. Her two older twin brothers, Ban Gu and Ban Chao, would also become important figures. She was educated at home by both her parents. This was unusual for a girl, even in a scholarly family. By her teens she was widely read in Chinese classics. At fourteen she married Cao Shishu, a local man. They had several children. Her husband died young. She did not remarry, which was already considered virtuous in her culture. Her father had been writing a major history of the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE to 23 CE). After his death, her brother Ban Gu took over the project. In 92 CE, Ban Gu was imprisoned because of court politics and died in prison. Around 97 CE, the emperor summoned Ban Zhao to the capital to finish her brother's work. She was given access to the Imperial Library, an extraordinary privilege for any scholar of her time. She completed the Book of Han (Han shu), one of the most important histories ever written in China. She also wrote Lessons for Women (Nüjie) and many other works. She tutored the empress and other women of the court. She died around 117 CE, aged about 70.

Laozi is the name given to the author of the Daodejing, one of the most important books in Chinese thought. The name means 'Old Master'. We do not know if Laozi was a real person. The traditional story says he lived in the 6th century BCE, in the same period as Confucius. He is said to have worked as a keeper of royal records in the Zhou court. When the Zhou kingdom began to fall apart, he decided to leave. At the western gate, a guard asked him to write down his wisdom before he left. The result was the Daodejing, a short book of about 5,000 Chinese characters. Then Laozi rode away on a water buffalo and was never seen again. Most modern scholars think this story is a legend. The book was probably written by several people over time, and the oldest parts may come from the 4th century BCE, not the 6th. The name 'Laozi' may have been a title for a group of teachers rather than one person. But the book itself is real, and it has shaped Chinese culture for more than two thousand years. The Daodejing is the founding text of Daoism (also spelled Taoism). Daoism became one of the three main traditions of Chinese thought, alongside Confucianism and Buddhism. These three shaped China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam for centuries. Daoism is both a philosophy and, later, a religion with temples, priests, and rituals. Laozi himself, real or not, became a god in the religious tradition. Statues of him stand in temples across China and East Asia today.