作为中国历史上一个文化与智慧迅速扩张的时代，诸子百家始于公元前770年，终于公元前222年。这个时代被誉为中国思想的黄金时期和百家争鸣的时期，它见证了不同思想学派的兴起。
不少起源于这个时代的中国古典著作直到今日对中国人的生活方式和社会意识还有着深远的影响。这个时代的知识型社会以流动的智者为特征，这些智者被不同国家的君主任用为顾问，针对治国之道、治军之道和外交手段提出建议。
儒家思想可能是对国人生活最具有长远影响的本体思想。它还被称为学者学派，其文学遗产存在于儒家典籍中，这些典籍为传统社会奠定了基础，这种思想的代表人物是孔子，他主张君主以仁治国。孟子是孔子的弟子，他为儒家思想中人道的传播做出了主要贡献，宣扬“人性本善”。
中国同样见证了国学思想中第二主要的流派——道家思想的发展。它由传说中的圣人老子和庄子所构建。道家思想的核心在于自然境界中的个人而不是社会中的个人。根据道家思想，每个人的生活目标应该是调整自我来适应自然世界的节奏，顺应宇宙的模式，和谐生活。
总而言之，“百家争鸣”的景象出现在2500年前的春秋时期和2200年前的战国时期，2400年前，诸子百家的出现以及他们的倡导者老子和孔子都在世界哲学史的发展过程中占据了重要地位。
As an era of great cultural and intellectual expansion in China, the Hundred Schools of Thought lasted from 770 BC to 222 BC. Known as the Golden Age of Chinese thought and the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought, the period saw the rise of many different schools of thought.
Many of the great Chinese classic texts that originated during this period have had profound influences on Chinese lifestyle and social consciousness lasting to the present day. The intellectual society of this era was characterized by itinerant intellectuals, who were usually employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of government, war, and diplomacy.
Confucianism is the body of thought that has arguably had the most enduring effect on Chinese life. Also known as the School of the Scholars, its written legacy lies in the Confucian Classics, which later became the foundation of the traditional society. The representative of this thought is Confucius. He contended that a king must be virtuous in order to rule property. Mencius was a Confucian disciple who made major contributions to the spread of humanism in Confucian thought, declaring that man, by nature, was inherently good.
As the second most significant stream of Chinese thought, the Zhou period also saw the development of Taoism. Its formulation is often attributed to the legendary sage Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi. The focus of Taoism is on the individual within the natural realm rather than the individual within society. According to Taoism, the goal of life for each individual is to seek to adjust oneself and adapt to the rhythm of the natural world, to follow the way of the universe, to live in harmony.
In a word, the scene of “contention of a hundred schools of thought” brought forth in the Spring and Autumn Period 2500 years ago and the Warring States Period over 2200 years ago and the emergence of various schools of thought and their exponents such as Lao Zi and Confucius about 2400 years ago all occupy a very important position in the world history of philosophy.
