The student-teacher relationship was based on shared convictions and sometimes involved mutual benefit, and thus "a man's influence [was] measured by the number of his followers," and in Chinese history there have been innumerable instances of "factional strife" and "protecting one's own faction and attacking others."
而師生關係基於理念結合，有時還牽扯利益關係，因此「擁徒自重」、「門派傾軋」、「黨同伐異」的情形在中國歷史上屢見不鮮。