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The Four Lords of the Warring States were four powerful aristocrats of the late Warring States period of Chinese history who exerted a strong influence on the politics of their respective states in the third century BCE.〔(Period of the Warring States )〕 During this time, the Zhou king was a mere figurehead, and seven states led by aristocratic families competed for real power. Although they were not themselves monarchs, four aristocrats stood out because of their tremendous military power and wealth: Lord Mengchang (d. 279) of Qi, Lord Xinling (d. 242) of Wei, Lord Pingyuan (d. 251) of Zhao and Lord Chunshen (d. 237) of Chu. All four were renowned for their activity in the politics of their era as well as being the persona of their state respectively at the time; they also wielded influence via the cultivation and housing of many talented house-guests, who often included learned men and tacticians. As such, they came to be the most prominent patrons of the ''shi'' () or scholar-knights, stimulating the intellectual life of the time. Their prestige became the inspiration for Lü Buwei when he created his academic analogue in Qin. == References in the Records of the Grand Historian == These four lords are paralleled in some books of ''the Records of the Grand Historian'', the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of China. In ''the Biographies of Lord Pingyuan and Yu Qing,''〔(Biographies of Lord Pingyuan and Yu Qing ) 是時齊有孟嘗，魏有信陵，楚有春申，故爭相傾以待士。〕
In ''the Biography of Lord Chunshen,''〔(Biography of Lord Chunshen ) 春申君既相楚，是時齊有孟嘗君，趙有平原君，魏有信陵君，方爭下士，招致賓客，以相傾奪，輔國持權。〕
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