The members of the public security school mainly lived in Wanli period. Since Hongzhi in Ming Dynasty, the literary world has been dominated by the "first seven scholars" headed by Li Mengyang and He Jingming and the "last seven scholars" headed by Wang Shizhen and Li Panlong. Their retro argument that "literature must be in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and poetry must flourish in the Tang Dynasty" and "don't study after the big calendar" has a great influence, so that "the world pushes Li, He, Wang and Li Jue, and all strive for its effect" (Biography of Li Mengyang in the Ming Dynasty). In the meantime, Gui Youguang and other "Tang and Song School" writers struggled, but they were not enough to correct their abuses. During the Wanli period, Li Zhi pointed out, "Why did you choose poetry in ancient times?" The opinions of "why the article was in the pre-Qin period" and "the situation has been discussed in succession because the article was not available" resonated with the deaf, and He, Jiao Bi and Xu Wei actually became the pioneers of the public security school.
As the core of the theory of public security school, the slogan is "show your spirit". The theory of "the spirit of nature" of the public security school is a theory with distinct contents of the times, which is closely related to Li Zhi's theory of childlike innocence and sharply opposed to "reason". The theory of soul not only clearly affirms people's desire for life, but also emphasizes the expression of personality, which shows the personality liberation of people in the late Ming Dynasty.