The personal half of
诸子百家 — the masters themselves rather than the schools. 'Pre-Qin
诸子' specifically denotes
孔子 (Confucius),
孟子 (Mencius),
老子 (Laozi),
庄子 (Zhuangzi),
墨子 (Mozi),
荀子 (Xunzi),
韩非子 (Han Feizi) and their peers. After Qin Shi Huang's
焚书坑儒 ('burning of books and burying of scholars') and the Han adoption of Confucianism, this is the canon every later Chinese intellectual studied.
