Visual Timeline: Chinese Philosophy

To navigate the timeline, click and drag it with your mouse, or click on the timeline overview on the bottom.

600 BCE 500 BCE 400 BCE 300 BCE 200 BCE 100 BCE 0 CE 100 CE 200 CE 300 CE 400 CE 500 CE 600 CE 700 CE 800 CE 900 CE  
 
551 BCE - 479 BCE: Life of Confucius.
 
 
500 BCE: Life of the Chinese Relativist Philosopher Teng Shih (probable date of death 522 or 502 BCE).
 
 
500 BCE: Probable life of the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu, founder of Taoism and author of the Tao-Te-Ching.
 
 
500 BCE: Probable life of Sun-Tzu, Military Strategist, author of The Art of War.
 
 
470 BCE - 391 BCE: Life of the Chinese pacifist philosopher Mo Ti, founder of Mohism.
 
 
440 BCE - 360 BCE: Life of Chinese Hedonist Philosopher Yang Zhu.
 
 
372 BCE - 289 BCE: Life of the Confucian philosopher Mencius (Mang-Tze).
 
 
338 BCE: Death of Shang Yang, early proponent of Legalist philosophy in China.
 
280 BCE - 233 BCE: Life of Han Feizi who developed Legalism in China.
 
 
221 BCE - 206 BCE: All philosophies of the Hundred Schools of Thought outlawed, except for Legalism, under the Qin Dynasty.
 
 
213 BCE - 206 BCE: Qin Dynasty elevates Legalism as state philosophy and bans all others.
 
 
202 BCE - 9 CE: Philosophies of the Hundred Schools of Thought revived under the Western Han Dynasty.
 
 
141 BCE - 87 BCE: Reign of Wu the Great of the Han Dynasty; Confucianism becomes state philosophy.
 
712 CE - 756 CE: Taoism becomes official religion of China under the Emperor Xuanzong.
 
756 CE - 907 CE: Taoism loses popular support with the decline of the Tang Dynasty. Replaced by Confucianism and Buddhism.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
600 BCE 400 BCE 200 BCE 0 CE 200 CE 400 CE 600 CE 800 CE