百家争鸣

百家爭鳴

bǎijiā-zhēngmíng

idiom

Meanings

1 a hundred schools of thought contend
2 vigorous intellectual debate among many factions
3 free and open scholarly contention

Characters

school (of thought); family

to contend; to compete

to cry out; to sound forth

Examples

HSK 5

我们鼓励百家争鸣，让不同意见充分表达。

Wǒmen gǔlì bǎijiā-zhēngmíng, ràng bùtóng yìjiàn chōngfèn biǎodá.

We encourage contention among all schools, letting different views be fully expressed.

HSK 7-9

春秋战国时期，学术上呈现百家争鸣的局面。

Chūnqiū Zhànguó shíqī, xuéshù shàng chéngxiàn bǎijiā-zhēngmíng de júmiàn.

In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, scholarship was marked by a hundred contending schools.

HSK 7-9

学术界需要百家争鸣的氛围。

Xuéshùjiè xūyào bǎijiā-zhēngmíng de fēnwéi.

Academia needs an atmosphere of open contention among many schools.

Tips

history

Refers to the Warring States intellectual flowering (5th-3rd c. BCE) when Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, Legalism and others debated openly. 《汉书·艺文志》 lists 189 schools. 百家 ('hundred schools') is hyperbolic - it simply means 'many'.

culture

Mao Zedong revived the phrase in the 1956 policy 百花齐放，百家争鸣 ('let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools contend'), which remains official policy: variety in the arts, open debate in the sciences.

Stroke Order

百 bǎi

家 jiā

争 zhēng

鸣 míng