So far nothing has been said in these chapters about China’s foreign policy.  Since the central ruling house was completely powerless, and the feudal lords were virtually independent rulers, little can be said, of course, about any “Chinese” foreign policy.  There is less than ever to be said about it for this period of the “Contending States”.  Chinese merchants penetrated southward, and soon settlers moved in increasing numbers into the plains of the south-east.  In the north, there were continual struggles with Turkish and Mongol tribes, and about 300 B.C. the name of the Hsiung-nu (who are often described as “The Huns of the Far East”) makes its first appearance.  It is known that these northern peoples had mastered the technique of horseback warfare and were far ahead of the Chinese, although the Chinese imitated their methods.  The peasants of China, as they penetrated farther and farther north, had to be protected by their rulers against the northern peoples, and since the rulers needed their armed forces for their struggles within China, a beginning was made with the building of frontier walls, to prevent sudden raids of the northern peoples against the peasant settlements.  Thus came into existence the early forms of the “Great Wall of China”.  This provided for the first time a visible frontier between Chinese and non-Chinese.  Along this frontier, just as by the walls of towns, great markets were held at which Chinese peasants bartered their produce to non-Chinese nomads.  Both partners in this trade became accustomed to it and drew very substantial profits from it.  We even know the names of several great horse-dealers who bought horses from the nomads and sold them within China.

3 Cultural changes

Together with the economic and social changes in this period, there came cultural changes.  New ideas sprang up in exuberance, as would seem entirely natural, because in times of change and crisis men always come forward to offer solutions for pressing problems.  We shall refer here only briefly to the principal philosophers of the period.

Mencius (c. 372-289 B.C.) and Hsuen Tz[)u] (c. 298-238 B.C.) were both followers of Confucianism.  Both belonged to the so-called “scholars”, and both lived in the present Shantung, that is to say, in eastern China.  Both elaborated the ideas of Confucius, but neither of them achieved personal success.  Mencius (Meng Tz[)u]) recognized that the removal of the ruling house of the Chou no longer presented any difficulty.  The difficult question for him was when a change of ruler would be justified.  And how could it be ascertained whom Heaven had destined as successor if the existing dynasty was brought down?  Mencius replied that the voice of the “people”, that is to say of the upper class and its following, would declare the right man, and that this man would then be Heaven’s nominee.  This theory persisted throughout the history of China.  Hsuen Tz[)u]’s