Place
State of Song
A small state in the Central Plains. Home of Zhuangzi. Descended from the old Shang dynasty, it was considered culturally conservative by its neighbors.
Song was a middling state in the central plain, ruled by descendants of the defeated Shang and treated with condescension by its neighbors. A good share of the standing jokes in Warring States literature are about the stupidity of men from Song, including the farmer who saw a rabbit run into a stump and break its neck, then waited by the stump for the rest of his life. Zhuangzi came from Meng in Song and held a minor post in a lacquer garden before declining any further employment.
Thinkers Connected to State of Song
Mozi
Love everyone equally. He rejected Confucian hierarchy and built a disciplined community of pacifists who defended besieged cities.
Zhuangzi
Am I a man who dreamed he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming it is a man? He turned philosophy into wild, luminous stories.
Yang Zhu
The philosopher of the self, who would not give a single hair to save the world, and asked why a life should be spent on anything but living it.