Historians were the first to record the words and deeds of ancient emperors and historical events. Ban Gu of the Eastern Han Dynasty said: "The king of ancient times, there are historians in the world, and you must write books when you raise them, so you are cautious in your words and deeds and show your demeanor." Zuo Shi's Historical Records said that you Shi's Historical Records said that things are' Spring and Autumn' and words are' Shangshu'. "This kind of memorizing words and quotations has become the originator of prose in later generations. Notebook became the ancestor of historical prose. With the development of society, in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, due to the improvement of writing material conditions and the development of historiography, several historical articles such as Guoyu, Zuozhuan and Warring States Policy appeared, which greatly exceeded the expressive power of Shangshu and Chunqiu in vivid narration, vivid description and profound exposition. This is because during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, changes were rapid and social contradictions were complicated. Whether it is the twists and turns of political struggle, personnel turnover, success or failure, or the right time, the right place and the right people, people's hearts turn back, all these need people to sum up and evaluate in time. Historical prose is produced and developed in response to the needs of this era. These historical essays have the greatest influence on later literature, including Zuo Zhuan and Warring States Policy.
As a record of scholars' academic thoughts, hundred schools of thought's essays reflect various cultural achievements in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Excellent books include The Analects of Confucius, Mozi, Mencius, Zhuangzi, Xunzi and Everything is Wrong. The emergence and development of prose reflected the development of social production and the needs of social life at that time. Before there are words, there are oral poems, and after there are words, there are essays. With the development of productive forces, there are writing tools, such as bamboo, silk, silk and pens. With the development of social handicraft industry, cultural tools have been improved, and writing has become more and more suitable for the needs of social development, gradually providing material conditions for long prose and organized and systematic prose works. The pre-Qin philosophers were "scholars" of the emerging class at that time, and they made suggestions to the rulers by virtue of their academic and lobbying. In order to maintain their own rule, vassal States also attract talents to serve their own interests. As a result, the taxi class with all kinds of knowledge, under the requirements of class struggle and social struggle, have stepped onto the political stage.
They can learn from each other when they enter, and write books when they leave, which became a prominent force at that time. The "scholar" class is very miscellaneous, among which the authors are mainly bachelors, such as Confucius, Mozi, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi and Gouzi of Confucianism, Mohism, Taoism and Legalism. These are thinkers with different tendencies, and they mark the academic attainments and cultural level of the whole era. These bachelors set up their own portals, gathered disciples to discuss, lobbied around and wrote books, which reflected various contradictions and struggles bred and developed in social life and formed an active academic situation in philosophy. These debates are complex, intense and brand-new. When they want to express their views systematically, carefully and deeply, the original poetic form of four words and two beats is far from enough, so they adopt a new bold prose form suitable for reasoning. It can be seen that the development of prose forms is driven by the struggle of social life, the needs of the times, the needs of cultural development and the new mission of literature endowed by history.
Hundred schools of thought has different prose styles, and Mozi pays attention to reasoning methods, such as reasoning (metaphor), foil (foil), assistance (citation) and deduction (reasoning). His article is full of logic. Mencius pays attention to the momentum of the article, sharp-edged and magnificent. Zhuangzi said that there are three ways to write, namely, "take words as metaphors, take words as truth, and take fables as wide as possible" (the world). Speech is a natural and impartial speech, an exaggeration and deductive technique; Fable is a story with moral significance to publicize its authenticity; Overlapping is pretending to be an important person to show authenticity and reliability. These are the reasons why Zhuangzi's prose is full of romance. Other hundred schools of thought, each with its own merits and characteristics, presented a magnificent scene of blooming flowers and dazzling in the history of China's prose development.