If the date assigned to Lao TzÅ­ by present-day research (the fourth
instead of the sixth century B.C.) is correct, he was more or less
contemporary with Chuang TzÅ­, who was probably the most gifted poet
among the Chinese philosophers and Taoists. A thin thread extends from
them as far as the fourth century A.D.: Huai-nan TzÅ­, Chung-ch'ang
T'ung, Yüan Chi (210-263), Liu Ling (221-300), and T'ao Ch'ien
(365-427), are some of the most eminent names of Taoist philosophers.
After that the stream of original thought dried up, and we rarely find a
new idea among the late Taoists. These gentlemen living on their estates
had acquired a new means of expressing their inmost feelings: they wrote
poetry and, above all, painted. Their poems and paintings contain in a
different outward form what Lao TzÅ­ had tried to express with the
inadequate means of the language of his day. Thus Lao TzÅ­'s teaching has
had the strongest influence to this day in this field, and has inspired
creative work which is among the finest achievements of mankind.




Chapter Four

THE CONTENDING STATES (481-256 B.C.): DISSOLUTION OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM


1 _Social and military changes_

The period following that of the Chou dictatorships is known as that of
the Contending States. Out of over a thousand states, fourteen remained,
of which, in the period that now followed, one after another
disappeared, until only one remained. This period is the fullest, or one