The Epochal Periodization of Chinese Intellectual and Philosophical History

The periodization of Chinese intellectual and philosophical history is a crucial and complex issue. It is hard to grasp the internal rhythm of intellectual and philosophical history based on the traditional periodization set by the prolonged academic history. Rather, we should resort to the history and thinking pattern on philosophy's own terms. Pre-Modern Chinese intellectual and philosophical history centers around core concepts like "Dao" (道), "De" (德) and "Li" (理), which exhibited a successive and fluctuating progression, sequentially from "The Age of De", "The Age of Dao" to "The Age of Li". These three epochal periods of Chinese intellectual and philosophical history evidently demonstrated the evolutionary pattern, rhythm and theoretical characteristics of ancient Chinese philosophy.