The Spring-Autumn and the Warring States periods were marked by the emancipation, the great leap forward the creative exploration of the ancient Chinese philosophies. Many philosophers showed sparks of creative wisdom. In these days, rites collapsed and music deteriorated, unrest and upheaval set in and the states waged wars against each other striving for hegemony. The distressed scholars either traveled to different states to put forward their views and proposals to deliver the people from their sufferings, or taught disciples, or retreated in seclusion to write books to expound their doctrines. Within a short time , many philosophical schools arose , among which were Confucianism , Master Lao’s Doctrine , Master Mo’s Doctrine , Legalists , Yin-Yang Doctrine , etc., each propounding its own systematic philosophical viewpoints as well as its social and political proposals . Their ideological contest laid a sound foundation for the development of Chinese philosophy.
　　The pre-Qin philosophies represented the wisdom of ancient Chinese philosophers, whether the high ideal state of “unity of nature and man”, or the high social value of peace and harmony, or the “people-loving” benevolent mentality, or the “self restraining observation of rites” of the modest persons, or the doctrine of “forever changing”, all were sparks of wisdom of the ancient Chinese sages and philosophies, which is a precious spiritual wealth for the modern Chinese people.
In the relationship between nature and man there existed three schools of philosophy, viz, the nature and man in unity” school, interrelated, the “man distinguished from nature” school and the “joining in the nature” school. The first school stressed that the law of human and the law of nature were interrelated and so were the behaviors of the human and the behaviors of the nature.

　　The main exponents of this school were Maclius and Master Zhuang. Mencius proposed the theory of “exerting the mind to understand the behaviors of man and nature”. He advocated that human instincts and natural laws were interrelated, and that the mind was the subject to be affected. If man exerted fully his mind, he could understand his instincts, which was endowed by nature. So, to understand instincts was to understand nature. Nature was the ultimate dictator and the inexorable laws. Master Zhuang was another exponent of the “unity of nature and man” school. He said, “Nature grow with me,” and “All things and I blending into one, represent the loftiest ideal state.” (From the “Book of Master Zhuang”: “On Nature”) The second philosophical school advocating “distinguishing man from nature” was represented by Master Xun. He emphasized the distinction between nature and man, and stated that positive human behaviors should be directed to change nature. He defied that nature had consciousness and could exert power over the auspiciousness and ominousness, the disasters and fortunes of man. Instead, he argued that nature was material and an objective existence. He wrote, “Nature is progressing; earth has resources; and man should manage.” (From the “Book of Master Xun: On Nature”.)The third philosophical school advocating “man joining in nature” pointed out that man could participate in the changes of nature since man and nature are both distinguishable and united . In the “Book of golden Mean” it was stated: “Exerting fully the mind leads to using fully all the things. Using fully all the things leads to contribution to the progress of nature. Contributing to the progres of nature is joining in the nature”. This statement was a clear and systematic representation of the philosophy of this school.