Professor Andrew Meyer

So someone like Confucius obviously

The past is sacred to him, but he's thinking about the future.

He's thinking about a way out of the current crisis.

How do we get out of this dilemma?

And, you know, for all that he was a conservative and there's plenty of criticism of Confucius, the answers that he produced in the face of that crisis were so profound and so persuasive that they resonate even today.

That's absolutely true.

And the Chin, they were a backwater at the beginning of the Warring States.

Really, for much of the Warring States, the action, the driving impetus of reform is from this central power known as Wei.

There are lots of leaders and developments in Wei that drive change throughout the Warring States.

Xi, the Eastern power, is also a very major player

And it takes people a long time to take Qin, the Western power, seriously.

But by the end of the fourth century, Qin has become a very powerful player.

And then over the course of the third century BC, they become powerful.

uncontestably dominant.

So that by the time we get to the end of the Zhou dynasty itself, when the Zhou kings are finally displaced, it's clear to everyone that Qin is the winner.

And it still takes another 30 years.

Really, Qin emerges as the uncontestably dominant power who will definitely be

the author of whatever system that comes out of all of this.

In 260 BC, there's this battle of Changping.

Yes.