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An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History and Literature
The Jixia Academy 稷下 was a kind of state academy in the state of Qi 齊 during the Warring States period 戰國 (5th cent.-221 BCE). Many scholars studying and teaching there were famous among the so-called one hundred schools of thought of that time. Its representatives came from many different philosophical traditions, from Confucians, legalists and Daoists to adherents of the Yin-Yang school, sophists or dialecticians, military strategists and so-called miscellaneous thinkers or eclecticists.
One of the most famous philosophers teaching at the Jixia Academy was Xunzi 荀子 (c. 316-c. 235). The school was run for about 140 years and was only closed when the armies of Qin 秦 conquered Qi. The heyday of the Academy was during the reign of King Xuan 齊宣王 (r. 342-324), when several teachers, like Zou Yan 鄒衍 (c. 305-240), Chunyu Kun 淳于髡 (c. 386-310), Tian Pian 田騈, Jiezi 接子, Shen Dao 慎到 (395-315) or Huan Yuan 環淵 were bestowed the title of senior grand master (shang dafu 上大夫) because they had contributed with their discourses to the political successes of the king. During that time several hundred scholars studied at the Jixia Academy.
The teachers compiled many books, of which some have survived until today, like the Guanzi 管子, Huangdi sijing 黃帝四經, or the military treatise Simafa 司馬法.