Zhou Yi, also known as Yi Jing, or I Ching, The Book of Changes, is an important Confucian classic. It contains two parts, Jing, the main text, and Zhuan, the appendix. The main text Jing has 64 hexagrams, which in total comprise 384 Yao lines. Each hexagram and Yao line has its own explanatory notes.
According to Shiji, or Records of the Grand Historian, Lao Zi’s surname was Li and his personal name was Er. He lived in the times during the Spring and Autumn Period (specifically, active in the 6th century BC), and he had been an official in the imperial archives in the Zhou Dynasty. Confucius had sought his advice on rites, which demonstrated that Lao Zi was famous for his broad knowledge at that time.
Before the Spring and Autumn Period (771 –476 BC), laws were only applied to the people with lower social status. There were no written laws as to how to convict and deliver sentences. All depended on the will of the noble rulers. Therefore, the role of the law at that time was not apparent.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were frequent wars among the vassal states, and a school of warfare and military theories, Militarists, came into being. The main figures included Sun Wu (Sun Tzu) in the late Spring and Autumn Period, and Wu Qi and Sun Bin in the Warring States Period.
Zhuang Zi, with the given name of Zhou, lived during the Warring States Period (specifically, active in the 4th century- BC to the 3rd century BC). He had been a junior official in Qiyuan in the State of Song. Later he quit his job and started teaching. He, after Lao Zi, was a key figure of Daoism.
