# Early Chinese thought

- Id: `chinese-thought`
- Canonical url: `https://prokopton42.com/en/intellectual-traditions/early-chinese-thought/`
- Language: `en`
- Editorial status: `reviewed`
- Content checksum: `aca69e3e37f4d558aa4d49e9ab49f84771e00bda0b98f934f2e97282f785c879`

## Summary

Distinct traditions examining order, ritual, the Way, government, and effective action.

## Overview

Ancient China produced several vocabularies for governing oneself and others. The Analects stage learning, ritual, and the quality of relationships. The Daodejing tests action without coercion and the power of withdrawal. Sunzi analyzes the conditions of victory that avoid needless expenditure.

These works do not form a single school. Their proximity on this page supports exploration without erasing their differences. Traditional dates and attributions remain qualified when disputed.

## Statistics

```json
{
    "thinkers": 3,
    "works": 3,
    "passages": 114,
    "concepts": 124
}
```

## Thinkers

```json
[
    {
        "id": "laozi",
        "name": "Laozi",
        "url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/thinkers/laozi/"
    },
    {
        "id": "sunzi",
        "name": "Sun Tzu",
        "url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/thinkers/sunzi/"
    },
    {
        "id": "confucius",
        "name": "Confucius",
        "url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/thinkers/confucius/"
    }
]
```

## Works

```json
[
    {
        "id": "confucius.analects",
        "title": "The Analects of Confucius (Lúnyǔ)",
        "author": "Confucius",
        "url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/works/confucius/analects/"
    },
    {
        "id": "laozi.daodejing",
        "title": "Daodejing, Book of the Way and Virtue",
        "author": "Laozi",
        "url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/works/laozi/daodejing/"
    },
    {
        "id": "sunzi.sunzi_bingfa",
        "title": "Sunzi Bingfa, The Art of War",
        "author": "Sun Tzu",
        "url": "https://prokopton42.com/en/works/sunzi/art-of-war/"
    }
]
```