2 The Warring States Period
A villager from Daxiang remarked sarcastically,“How great is Confucius!
He is so broadly learned, and yet has failed to make a name for himself in any
particular endeavor.”
When the Master was told of this, he said to his disciples,“What art,
then, should I take up? Charioteering? Archery? I think I shall take up
charioteering.”
The Analects^1Spring and Autumn period aristocrats were organized into kinship lineages
focused on ancestral temples. Warfare was part of the service to these
temples, a way in which an individual could win glory for himself and his
lineage. Indeed, the jealous and violent defense of one’s honor, and that of
one’s lineage, was a cultural tie that bound the aristocracy together and
separated them from the commoners. Lineages existed apart from the
putative political authorities, and all aristocrats shared a similar status,
making the organization of power within the aristocracyflatter culturally
than would be found in the more hierarchical political structure. As the
Spring and Autumn period wore on, however, the incessant warfare, feuds,
and vendettas among the aristocracy began to destroy it. The old political
order crumbled to be replaced by a new, more hierarchical system in the
Warring States period.^2
The new political order that emerged in the Warring States period
developed gradually. Not only was the aristocracy destroying itself but the
changes in warfare (and martial arts), new political ideas, and a host of other
technological changes began to appear and would affect many aspects of
society over several centuries. The culmination would come in221 bcewith
the triumph of the Qin dynasty and the creation of the imperial Chinese
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