Introduction

The Yanzi Figure and the Yanzi Text in History

(Ⅰ) Waiting in the Wings: The Yanzi Figure From the 6th through the 3rd Century BCE

First came Yan Ying 晏婴 — the person. Years later, after he had long passed away, came Yanzi 晏子 — the eponymous protagonist of The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan 晏子春秋. Reliable evidence about the life and times of Yan Ying as a historical figure who lived in Qi齐 during the 6th century BCE is scarce and cannot be accurately assessed. Through the fifth and fourth centuries BCE his identity, nevertheless,gradually coalesced into a distinctive portrait. Initially, Yan Ying was briefly mentioned in the Analects 论语, in which he was succinctly praised by Confucius as a person who excelled at social relationships. Next, he made his debut as an historical figure in the Zuozhuan 左传. This text contains several anecdotes about him, centering on the pivotal events of the waning of the ruling house in Qi and the rise of the Tian 田 clan to supremacy during the second half of the sixth century BCE. These anecdotes, taken together, form an appealing personal portrait of Yan Ying as a minister who both delivered eloquent remonstrations and played a principled and courageous role in the service of three failing rulers.

Subsequently, during the second half of the fourth century BCE, the presence of Yanzi’s figure in the literature began to make a mark, as he received both praise and critique. Chunyu Kun 淳于髡 (c. 340 BCE), a member of the Jixia 稷下 patronage community, cited him with admiration in the remonstrations he delivered to Duke Wei of Qi 齐威王 (c. 378–320 BCE). Mencius 孟子 (c. 372–c. 289 BCE), on the other hand, was offended when his disciple, Gongsun Chou 公孙丑 from Qi, persisted in weighing the abilities of his master Mencius against those of Guan Zhong管仲 and Yanzi. Mencius responded to the notion condescendingly by denying the importance of both Guan Zhong and Yanzi as two great ministers in Qi, characterizing them instead as two state functionaries whose value was strictly limited to their own immediate time and place. The same dismissive attitude towards Yanzi and Guan Zhong was recorded a bit later in the preserved philosophical writings of Xunzi 荀子 (ca. 310–235 BCE;alt. ca. 314–ca. 217 BCE). A certain “Master,” points that both Yan Ying and Guan Zhong are presented as ministers of major accomplishments; he then indicates that the accomplishments of Guan Zhong were superior to those of Yan Ying; finally, he concludes the section by calling Guan Zhong “a rustic boor” who did not properly fulfill the post of minister to his ruler, the Son of Heaven. By implication, what is one to think of Yan Ying, whose achievements were claimed to be inferior to those of Guan Zhong?

(Ⅱ) Center Stage: The Yanzi Figure from the 3rd through the 2nd Century BCE

Between the years 300 BCE and 200 BCE the Yanzi figure gradually underwent a change. His character evolved into a more central figure,both in narrated episodes in which he played a role, and in textual records that bore his name. Until the middle of the third century BCE his deeds, admired or dismissed, were always overshadowed by the general historical circumstances that framed his place in the text, and his character served a broader purpose than the limited scope of his pronouncements. However,around 250 BCE, the Yanzi figure moved from the periphery to occupy center stage in the narrated episodes. In the following years, his figure became a source for full references and attracted increasing critical attention. His image became more complex — sometimes exemplary, sometimes dubious — and eventually gave rise to a body of characteristic anecdotes that focused not only on his public deeds but also on his personality as an individual with a unique thought process. This shift towards the center is reflected in the following three major texts of the era: In Mozi 墨子 Lüshi chunqiu 吕氏春秋, and Hanfeizi 韩非子.

In Mozi’ s 墨子 chapter thirty-nine, “Against the Confucians” 非儒,Yanzi no longer plays a subsidiary character role, but rather emerges as a dominant figure on the “anti-Confucian,” Mohist stage. He is portrayed as a close confidant and advisor to the Duke of Qi, whose Mohist agenda against the Confucians elicits from Yanzi a series of hostile views against the Confucians’ worldview and excessive practices. His attitude is harsh;he not only denounces Confucius personally as a rebellious and even murderous figure, but also strips Confucianism of its core values, presenting its advocates as practitioners of useless showmanship. From this point in the text onwards, the Yanzi figure becomes identified in several other texts an references as well, not only as a Mohist but also as a torchbearer against Confucius and Confucians alike.

In the Lüshi chunqiu 吕氏春秋, the Yanzi figure functions authentically as a unique paradigm of a moral, self-critical, and courageous individual. The text contains three episodes that portray him acting in desperate and life-threatening situations. In the first, his benevolence and moral authenticity is so exemplary and inspirational for others that those he encounters devotedly sacrifice their lives for him. In the second, his act of benevolence demonstrates his rare ability to be self-critical and selfdemanding — a perfectionist’s awareness of the implications of the entire scope of his actions and conduct. In the third, he is presented as a model of great authentic courage, as he faces imminent execution.

The Hanfeizi 韩非子 contains three sections on Yanzi pointedly directed against his reasoning regarding governmental concerns, against his humane approach to relief efforts, and against his psychological considerations in regard to harsh and lenient punishments. It seems as if the Hanfeizi considered the Yanzi figure a threatening embodiment of a world view that had to be challenged and refuted on Legalist grounds. The Yanzi figure is therefore met in the text with sharp philosophical criticism,and at one point he is even branded “insincere,” with respect to his own argument. The first among these three sections attacks Yanzi’s famous traits of frugality and abstemiousness. The text not only argues against the senselessness of these two values, insofar as they can result in a complete lack of motivation amongst ministers to succeed, but also claims that Confucius himself had previously voiced this particular criticism against Yanzi. The second section claims that Yanzi’s humane and generous approach towards officialdom and the people shows that he lacked the ability to remove troubles and thereby exposed his ruler to grave disaster. Finally, in the third episode, the text attacks Yanzi’s lenient approach to punishment, claiming that Yanzi himself did not believe his own argument.For the Hanfeizi, Yanzi’s lenient approach shows that Yanzi failed to understand clearly the meaning of governance.

(Ⅲ) The Soloist: The Yanzi Figure and the Yanzi Text during the Former Han

(Ⅲ-1) The Remonstrations of Yanzi 晏子谏 in the Huainanzi 淮南子

All these textual examples suggest that around 200 BCE, the Yanzi figure not only played a more central role in narrated episodes that bear his name, but also most likely constituted the inspiration for several distinctive texts that focused entirely on his legacy — some of which included his name in the title. In 139 BCE, this stage in the evolution of the Yanzi figure became evident. In that year, the imperial kinsman Liu An 刘安 presented to Emperor Wu 武帝 an encyclopedic philosophical text known as the Huainanzi . The text’s twenty-first chapter, entitled “An Overview of the Essentials 要略,” aims to summarize and analyze the entire preceding twenty chapters and concludes by reviewing and explaining the genesis of important texts written by significant advisors and thinkers who played an influential role in the past. The text reads:

Duke Jing of Qi

enjoyed music and sex while inside his palace

and enjoyed dogs and horses while outside his palace.

When hunting and shooting, he would forget to return home.

When enjoying sex, he did so indiscriminately.

He built a terrace over the Road Bedchamber

and cast a grand bell.

When it was struck in the audience hall,

the sound [was so thunderous that] all the pheasants outside the city

walls cried out.

In a single morning [i.e., one court session] he distributed three thousand bushels of grain as largesse. Liangqiu Ju and Zijia Kuai led him about from the left and the right. Therefore, The Remonstrations of Yanzi 晏子谏 were born.

To sum up: First, the Huainanzi discusses the circumstances that gave rise to a text that it refers to as The Remonstrations of Yanzi ; second,“remonstrations” voiced by Yanzi against Duke Jing are not only one of the core subjects of the entire bulk of the received version of the YZCQ but also the title name that Liu Xiang 刘向 (77–6 BCE) gave to the first two chapters of his definitive text of Yanzi third, the Huainanzi ’s description of the seven circumstances that gave rise to this The Remonstrations of Yanzi match their corresponding items in four of the eight chapters of the received version of the YZCQ . We may thus conclude with relative confidence that around 139 BCE a text existed whose title identified it with Yanzi and whose contents shared a great similarity to the received version of the YZCQ . And indeed, some fifty years later, this stage of textual development was clearly defined when Yanzi’s legacy was sealed as an outspoken and courageous minister and as the author of a popular, circulating text, entitled The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan 晏子春秋. This legacy was secured among other unforgettable biographical narratives in Sima Qian’s(c. 145 – c. 86 BCE) Shiji 史记.

(Ⅲ-2) The Yanzi figure and theYZCQ in the Shiji

Yanzi’s biography appears in chapter 62 of the Shiji , following that of Guan Zhong, which constitutes the first part of the Chapter It consists of four parts: the first two deal exclusively with Yanzi, while the third and fourth focus on him and Guan Zhong together. A number of biographical sketches of both Yanzi and Guan Zhong, mostly drawn from the Zuozhuan ,are scattered throughout the preceding chapter 32 of the Shiji . Readers should note, however, that Sima Qian does not include in chapter 62 any of those biographical sketches previously related to Yanzi — only those of Guan Zhong’s are recapitulated in the latter’s biography. They should also note at the outset the concluding line of Yanzi’s biography, before commencing to read this piece regularly from beginning to end. In this line,Sima Qian expresses his own profound admiration for Yanzi’s personality in the following emotive statement:

If Yanzi were still alive, though I were only holding the whip for him, I would be pleased and longing to serve him.

Now, as the readers return to the opening lines of the biography, they may notice that this concluding statement of admiration actually resonates throughout the entire memoir, shaping its choices regarding contents. Sima Qian first weaves the two memoirs together by establishing an historical link between Guan Zhong and Yanzi with the following words:

After Guan Zhong died, the state of Qi followed his governmental policies and Qi was regularly stronger than the other feudal states. Over one-hundred years later, Yanzi was there.

Both the convergence and divergence between the biographies of Guan Zhong and Yanzi are thus established, bringing together chapter 62 as one historical unit. Readers are now compelled to examine and evaluate from a comparative perspective two figures of unequal historical magnitude: Guan Zhong, a minister whose brilliant policies are now pronounced to have shaped over 100 momentous years in Qi history; and Yanzi, a brilliant and outspoken minister, but a complete failure in saving the ruling house of Qi from its eventual demise. The first part of Yanzi’s biography reads

Yan Pingzhong 晏平仲, Ying 婴, was a native of Yiwei 夷维 in Lai莱. He served Duke Ling 灵 (r. 581–554), Duke Zhuang 庄 (r. 553–548),and Duke Jing 景 (r. 547–490) and because of his frugality and vigor, he was esteemed in Qi. Even after he became Prime Minister of Qi, he did not have two servings of meat, and his concubines did not wear silk. At court,if the Duke addressed him, he would speak audaciously; if the Duke did not address him, he would act audaciously. If the Way prevailed in the country,he would follow orders. If it did not, he would weigh the consequences of the orders. For these reasons, he was renowned among the princes in his service during three reigns.

After reading this first part of Yanzi’s biography bearing in mind the preceding biography of Guan Zhong, readers see that Guan Zhong is presented in chapter 62 as a remarkable figure who helped shape the history of Qi and who was personally involved in major turning points of its history.However, no similar narration is provided in the presentation of Yanzi’s life.The first part of Yanzi’s biography contains only a succinct record of names, place of residence, rank, and an approximate count of the years he spent in his official service to three dukes. Readers are offered no information regarding any major historical achievement of Yanzi in Qi; the text describes neither any important incidents nor any significant developments in his personal life by which readers might form a judgment. In contrast, the text itself does provide judgment in the form of a detailed list of observations regarding Yanzi’s traits, virtuous conduct, and personality, as if he were a protagonist in a book whose story-line was somehow missing. Thus, after finishing reading the first part of Yanzi’s biography, readers might well conclude that Yanzi played a much lesser role in the history of Qi than did Guan Zhong. Moreover, except for general background, readers receive no substantial information about the actual events and major developments of Yanzi’s life. That said, they would most likely be attracted to his personality as a protagonist whose frugality, vigor, courage, honesty, integrity, and audacity were evident throughout his life, having made him eminently famous among the people of his time.

At this point, readers may find themselves perplexed by Sima Qian’s selection of different types of biographical data for the two parts of the chapter. However, in light of the concluding line, they may resolve this discrepancy in view of Sima Qian’s admiration of Yanzi’s personality and his attempt to minimize the significant gap between the historical impacts of these two ministers on the fate of Qi. Sima Qian achieved this by posing Guan Zhong’s historical achievements against Yanzi’s finest virtues,thereby avoiding a direct comparison between the former, whose historical significance was great, and the latter, who bore almost no historical status but instead was a unique individual with rare qualities.

The second part of the biography consists of two consecutive episodes about Yanzi, which appear in the received text of the YZCQ . The first among the two narrates in concise form an episode strikingly similar to Item 5.24 [134]. It tells the story of Yanzi’s ransoming a certain Yue Shifu from captivity by selling one of his four horses, but failing, afterwards, to treat Yue Shifu with the proper respect. The ransomed prisoner reacts in protest against Yanzi’s neglect of the proper rites, which brings Yanzi to immediately repent and treat him as an honored guest. The second episode is identical, word for word, with Item 5.25 [135]. It narrates the episode of the wife of Yanzi’s eight-foot tall charioteer who is seeking to divorce her husband on the grounds that he drives Yanzi’s chariot in a pompous manner.Yanzi, she argues, is not even six-feet tall and acts modestly, even though he is a renowned prime minister. Her argument brings the charioteer to immediately repent and change his manner driving and Yanzi, who notices the change, recommends him for a high governmental post.

The two episodes are subtle, focusing on one implicit question: what does authentic identity consist of? In that regard, the two episodes can be analyzed from both philosophical and psychological perspectives. However,regarding Yanzi’s biography, they contain no information about his life except for giving indirectly the detail that he was a person of diminutive stature. It seems that this part of Yanzi’s biography again merely illustrates his set of virtues by narrating two accounts that lead the readers to realize two aspects of Yanzi’s character: that he spared no effort to save a fellow person from a life-threatening predicament; that he was self-critical and thus able to change attitude in a complex personal situation; and that he had a profound ability to go beyond the outward appearances and fathom the inner reality of the people who surrounded him.

What was Sima Qian in incorporating these two episodes into Yanzi’s biography? Again, in light of the “admiring” concluding epilogue, and given that Guan Zhong’s biography in chapter 62 consists of 525 words while Yanzi’s (at this point) consists of only 75, it appears that Sima Qian needed to lengthen Yanzi’s biography in order to create a more balanced proportion between his discussions of Yanzi and Guan Zhong.

The third part of the biography is mainly a literary assessment focusing on the respective writings of Guan Zhong and Yanzi. It reads:

“I have read through Mr. Guan Zhong’s [1] ‘Shepherding the People,’[2] ‘Mountains on High,’ [3] ‘Chariots and Horses,’ [4] ‘Light and Heavy,’ and [5] ‘Nine Bureaus’ as well as the [6] ‘ Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan. ’ Their words are expressed with such detail that having seen the books they wrote I wanted to examine their actions and therefore have attached their biographies. As for their books, many people today have copies of them and therefore I have not selected from them but instead have selected some neglected stories.”

The third part of the biography entails a major stage in the history of the Yanzi’s text. Sima Qian clearly states that he read five titles attributed to Guan Zhong as well as an additional sixth text, entitled The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan 晏子春秋 attributed to Yanzi. He also states that these texts were finely written and very popular in his time. This statement provides solid evidence that by around 100 BCE, Yanzi’s text had assumed its textual identity as an authentic biography. Further confirmation for this status is offered by its metonymic title (春秋 given in the Shiji ,and also by its broad circulation in the Han intellectual milieu.

The last, fourth part of chapter 62 is the epilogue of the two combined biographies of Guan Zhong and Yanzi. Sima Qian presents the hidden tension between the historical memories of the two Qi ministers that he combined in chapter 62 to its culmination by issuing an implied harsh judgment against Guan Zhong:

Guan Zhong was what the world refers to as a worthy official, but Confucius belittled him. Could it be because he considered the Way of the Zhou to be in decline and [because] Duke Huan was worthy, yet Guan Zhong did not exhort him to become king, but rather proclaimed himself Overlord?

With these words, all of Guan Zhong’s previously narrated achievements as a figure who shaped the history of Qi are reduced to mediocrity, with the metaphor Confucius had coined about him: “Guan Zhong was a vessel of small capacity” 管仲之器小哉. As for Yanzi,however, Sima Qian brings the epilogue to its end with words of strong praise that show his great admiration for him as a personal idol:

“When Yanzi fell down upon the corpse of Duke Zhuang, he would not leave until he completed his ritual duties for his lord. Could we say that he was ‘one who regards seeing what was right but not doing it as cowardice’ When it came to remonstrating, he was not afraid to brave his ruler’s displeasure, and he was one whom we might refer to as ‘exhausting his utmost in how to be loyal as he advances, and in how to correct his ruler’s faults as he withdraws.’ If Yanzi were still alive, though I were only holding the whip for him, I would be pleased and longing to serve him.”

These final words with which Sima Qian imagines himself playing the role of Yanzi’s old driver during the dangerous time surrounding the assassination of Duke Zhuang conclude Chapter 62 of the Shiji . Sima Qian expresses his longing to serve Yanzi and admiration for him, leaving the reader to reflect upon the two memoirs and ponder who among their two heroes ascended to a greater dominance in the history of Qi. However, the link between the two memoirs has been cleverly achieved and, indeed, in the years immediately following the composition of the Shiji , Guan Zhong and Yanzi were referred to jointly and evaluated in comparative judgment as equals.

The Yanzi figure continued to make a mark in the Han intellectual sphere during the first century BCE. The Yantie lun 盐铁论 by Huan Kuan桓宽 (fl. 81–60 BCE) refers to him several times not only as a historical personage ut also as the source of a quoted text. Moreover, toward the end of the century, his figure took on unforgettable proportions in a definitive text that Liu Xiang collated, prefaced, and entitled Yanzi .”

(Ⅲ-3) The Formation of Liu Xiang’s Yanzi

In 26 BCE, Emperor Cheng 成帝 (r. 33–7 BCE) ordered Liu Xiang刘向, the great Han bibliographer, to collect and collate canonical scriptures, traditional narratives, and philosophical and literary works of diverse kinds from all over the empire, along with those stored in the repositories of the palace. Subsequently, Liu Xiang collected over eight hundred anecdotes that focused on the life and time of Yanzi and with much effort turned them into a set of 215 glued items which exhibit an apparent thematic and faint chronological order, that form the definitive text from which Yanzi’s distinctive personal legacy was fashioned. This was a legacy of an exceptional personality of self-defined vocation and of diminutive body stature; an epitome of thriftiness and generosity alike;a master of psychological manipulation and comic, theatrical gestures; a profound scholar of vast knowledge and pragmatic reasoning, and a strong advocate against slavishly following the supernatural; a moral authority and courageous role model for the people of his era, who made Sisyphean efforts to lead the absurdly corrupt rulers he served towards just rulership;an equal to Guan Zhong and a match — even a rival — to Confucius. Above all, however, the definitive text of 215 items that Liu Xiang produced was the first literary biography in ancient China that focused exclusively on one leading protagonist — Yanzi — a rare individual, a minister of the Altars of Soil and Grai a master without a disciple, who was a true hero of his life. For almost each of his collated works, Liu Xiang presented a memorial to the Emperor consisting of a table of contents; an account of the textual material that was used in forming the collated text; a short narrative of the life, time, and works of the eponymous author; and a discussion of the value, authenticity, and authorship of the presented text. Liu Xiang’s report on Yanzi 晏子, follows the exact same pattern: It opens with a table of contents which consists of eight pian . The first six are named “Inner Chapters” (内篇) and are respectively entitled “Remonstrations” 1 and 2(谏上下), “Queries” 1 and 2 (问上下), and “Miscellany” 1 and 2 (杂上下). The seventh and eighth pian are designated “Outer chapters” (外篇) and are respectively entitled “Repetition cum Difference” (重而异者) and“Incompatible with Classical Learning” (不合经术者). After the table of contents, it opens with the project he set himself to accomplish, in which he recounts the main points surrounding the process involved in collating the different texts of Yanzi , and acknowledges the people who, under his editorial leadership, contributed to bringing the definitive text into existence.In the second part, he draws a lucid biographical sketch documenting recurring themes in Yanzi’s legacy. Finally, in the third and last part of his report, he critically evaluates the literary and philosophical value of Yanzi ,providing some answers regarding the authenticity and the authorship of the text and justifying his bold editorial decision to include anti-canonical items in the text. The Report reads:

The Commissioner of Water Management of the Eastern Part of the Metropolitan Area and Counsellor of the Palace, Your Servant [Liu]Xiang says: The royal copies of Yanzi 晏子, which Your Servant has collated, consisted of eleven pian 篇. Together with [Fu] Can 富参, the Commandant of Changshe 长社, Your Servant has carefully collated and compared them with the five pian text used by the Grand Astrologer, with Your Servant’s own one- pian text, and with the thirteen- pian text used by[Fu] Can. The entire corpus of royal copies and private copies of Yanzi formed a set of thirty pian , comprising 838 items 章. I discarded twenty-two pian that duplicate the same material comprising 638 items, and established a definitive text of eight pian comprised of 215 items. Thirty-six items in the definitive text were absent from the private copies, while seventy-on items were absent from the royal copies. The royal and private copies were incorporated into the definitive text after comparing each of the variants and fixing the text on this basis. The royal copies had the character yao 夭for fang 芳; the character you 又 for bei 备; the character xian 先 for niu 牛; and the character zhang 章 for zhang 长—and many other occurrences of this kind. I have combined and pruned them with great care and after having transcribed everything into the definitive text, I inscribed it on dried bamboo slips cured over fire so that fine copies may be made from them.

Yanzi’s personal name was Ying, his posthumous name Pingzhong 平仲. He was a native of Lai — today’s Donglai 东莱. He was a person of broad learning and retentive memory, and possessed a thorough understanding of ancient and modern learning. He served Dukes Ling,Zhuang, and Jing of Qi, and carried out his activities with parsimony. He exhibited supreme loyalty and remonstrated relentlessly in leading the state of Qi. On the strength of his efforts, these rulers were able to rectify their conduct and the people were able to keep their family together. When he was not in government service, he retired and plowed in the countryside;when he was in government office, he never violated his principles. He could not be intimidated by evil; even when a naked blade was placed upon his chest, he did not relent to Cui Zhu’s 崔杼 intimidation. He presented his remonstrations to the dukes of Qi; his words were elusive but telling,rhetorically pleasing but cutting. When he served as an envoy to the state sovereigns, no one could contravene his arguments. Such was the extent of his broad knowledge and thorough understanding. He was virtually equal to Guan Zhong 管仲. Within his family, he treated his relatives with proper affection; towards others, he treated the worthy generously. He served in the position of Prime Minister and received an emolument of tenthousand zhong 钟. Therefore, there were more than five hundred family members and relatives that depended upon his emolument in order to buy clothing and food, and the number of scholar-recluses who depended upon his emolument in order to receive their daily bread was great. Yanzi wore coarse clothing and covered himself in deer pelts; he drove a worn out nag and a broken down chariot. He exhausted his entire emolument on family,relatives, and friends. Because of all this, the people of Qi treated him with honor. Apparently, Yanzi was a person of diminutive height.

All the text’s first six pian are loyal remonstrations presented to his rulers; their literary style is remarkable, their moral principles can serve as paradigms, and all of them accord with the principles of the Six Classics. In addition to these six pian, there were duplicate items of somewhat different words and phrases that I dared not omit but rather rearranged them into one additional pian . There were also items that were somewhat not in accord with the learning of the Classics. They do not seem to be the words of Yanzi. I suspect that they were the product of masters of rhetoric of a later age. Once more, I did not dare omit them and have arranged them in one pian . Altogether the text consists of eight pian ; the first six should always be available at your majesty’s side for your royal perusal. I have carefully arranged the text according to its proper sequence. Your Servant, [Liu]Xiang, hereby presents them to your Majesty, at the risk of my own life.

Certainly, the first part of Liu Xiang’s Preface is exclusively based on a body of various pericopae laid before him as the chief editor, and collator of the text. Only he could authentically tell future readers how the process of producing the definitive text of Yanzi had evolved. His personal involvement with this process is also reflected in the third and last part of the Preface,in which he expresses not only his scholarly views regarding the value of the text but also his misgivings about setting off the items of the six“Inner Chapters” — which he thought authentically recorded Yanzi’s own words — from the spurious items cited by masters of rhetoric of later times,in the eighth, “Outer Chapter,” that he decided to retain. As for the second, biographical part of the Preface — readers who examine it in comparison to the biography of Yanzi in the Shiji will notice that Liu Xiang shares with Sima Qian the same admiration for Yanzi. Nevertheless, while Sima Qian was very careful not to draw extremely from the text that he, according to his own statement, had carefully read — The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan, Liu Xiang borrowed heavily from his collated Yanzi in drawing up his version of Yanzi’s biography.

From that moment onward, the historical legacy of Yanzi has been primarily represented and judged by the text (and preface) that Liu Xiang produced and introduced to his peers. Almost all other recorded echoes of Yanzi that have been found to date in other texts have been dimmed within the historical recollection.

(Ⅳ) Taking Hold in the Process of Transmission: The Yanzi and the YZCQ from the Later Han through the Tang

After the death of Liu Xiang (d. 8 BCE), from the first century CE through the Tang, Yanzi’s text, entitled either Yanzi or YZCQ , was listed,quoted and evaluated in the following 15 stages in its textual transmission:

It was probably listed under the title YZCQ in the section devoted to Confucian writings in Liu Xin’s 刘歆 (d. CE 23) bibliographical catalogue — Qilue 七略 ( Seven Summaries ), as a text of 7 pian .

It was listed under the title “ Yanzi ” in the section devoted to Confucian writings in Ban Gu’s 班固 (32–92 CE) bibliographical chapter of the Hanshu 汉书 — Yiwenzhi ’s 艺文志 ( Treatise on Literature ), as a text of 8 pian .

The Lunheng 论衡, by Wang Chong 王充 (27–100 CE), referred to both Yanzi and Guan Zhong as “successful writers;” it also quoted various statements pronounced by the Yanzi figure, almost all of which appear in parallel in the received text of the YZCQ .

The Fengsu tongyi 风俗通义, by Ying Shao 应劭 (d. ca. 204 CE),quoted the entire item 6.6 [146] of the YZCQ , identifying it as drawn from the YZCQ .

The Kongcongzi 孔丛子, a work written by Wang Su (195–256 CE) in his youth, noted that the title Chunqiu 春秋 was included in the title of the “Book of Yanzi.” It also strongly attacked the notion that Yanzi was an anti-Confucian who subscribed to Mohist views.

Liu Xie 刘勰 (465–522) stated in his The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons 文心雕龙 that Yanzi’s and Guan Zhong’s writings are characterized by clarity in their factual accounts through their refined language style.

The Shuijing zhu 水经注, by Li Daoyuan 郦道元 (d. 527), quoted a section from Item 2.24 [49] of the YZCQ , specifying Liu Xiang’s prefaced text of the YZCQ as the source of the citation.

The Tang encyclopedia (类书), Beitang shuchao 北堂书钞, completed by Yu Shinan 虞世南 (558–638) before 618, quotes the Yanzi and the YZCQ dozens of times, all of which appear throughout the eight pian of the received text of the YZCQ .

The Tang encyclopedia, Yiwen leiju 艺文类聚, completed by Ouyang Xun 欧阳询 (557–641) between the years 622 and 624, quoted the Yanzi and the YZCQ dozens of times, all of which appear scattered throughout the eight pian of the received text of the YZCQ .

The Qunshu zhiyao 群书治要, an anthology of canonical and early historical statecraft, completed in 631 by Wei Zheng 魏征 (580–643),contains, listed under the authorship of Yan Ying, a collection of 38 full items entitled Yanzi , all of which appear throughout the eight pian of the received text of the YZCQ . These 38 intact items consisted of 7,047 characters, which amount to no less than 17% of the entire bulk of 41,324 characters of the received text. The items are rearranged, sometimes in slightly different sequence, to form a Yanzi anthology of six parts. Although they are titled identically as the six “Inner Chapters” of Liu Xiang’s Yanzi :“Remonstrations,” (1 and 2), “Queries” (1 and 2), and “Miscellany” (1 and 2), they also include several items from the 7th and the 8th “Outer Chapters” of the text as well.

The bibliographical monograph of the Suishu Jingji zhi 隋书经籍志from 656 listed the YZCQ in the section devoted to Confucian writings as a seven- juan 卷 text, authored by Yan Ying. This bibliographical monograph is the only one compiled between the Han and the Tang, which is still preserved intact, and includes features from several now lost pre-Tang catalogues including Ruan Xiaoxu’s 阮孝绪 (479– 5 49) Qilu 七录.

The official dynastic history of Tang, the Jiu Tangshu 旧唐书 by Liu Xu 刘昫 (887–946), was later recompiled by the Song scholars Ouyang Xiu欧阳修 (1007–1072) and Song Qi 宋祁 (998–1061) as Xin Tangshu 新唐书. The two “histories” listed the YZCQ in the section devoted to Confucian writings as a seven- juan 卷 text, authored by Yan Ying.

The Li Shan 李善 (d. 689) commentary to the Wen Xuan 文选注quoted the YZCQ about 40 times. All these references appear in the eight pian of the received text of the YZCQ .

The Tang encyclopedia Chuxueji 初学记 by Xu Jian 徐坚 (659–729) quoted the Yanzi and the YZCQ dozens of times, all of which appear throughout the received text of the YZCQ .

The philosophical anthology Yilin 意林, authored by Ma Zong 马总 (d.823), listed the text under the title Yanzi , as an eight- pian text, comprising 16 items, all of which appear in the received text of the YZCQ .

To sum up, during the period under discussion:

1. The Yanzi text was listed, recognized, and transmitted under two titles: Yanzi and YZCQ .

2. Liu Xiang’s prefaced Yanzi was circulated and directly referred to as a source of citation.

3. All the text’s Inner Chapters’ titles were known and referred to by their names.

4. Yan Ying was ascribed with the authorship of the text.

5. The text was classified as a Confucian text.

6. The literary value of the text was highly appreciated.

7. A considerable part of the text appeared in encyclopedias and compendia alike.

8. The text’s two Outer Chapters were sometimes reduced to one “Outer Chapter.” Occasionally, in the reduction of these two chapters, items from them were scattered under the names of the six “Inner Chapters.” Thus, we may reasonably assume that the outer chapters’ text subdivision to either pian or juan was somewhat flexible.

(Ⅴ) Identity Mutation: Liu Zongyuan’s 柳宗元 (773–819) Mohist View of the YZCQ

This stable transmission of a highly regarded text, ascribed to its ancient author and bearing a preface by its historical imperial collator,was suddenly disrupted. The fixed status that the text enjoyed until the end of the eighth century — its repeated listings in all dynastic bibliographies and major catalogues alike as a Confucian text, as well as the extensive quotations as a source of traditional lore in the most celebrated encyclopedias — ended rapidly. It was the great poet and statesman of the Late Tang, Liu Zongyuan, whose short essay “Discussing YZCQ ” placed the exalted status of the text into doubt. His essay reads:

Sima Qian read the YZCQ and highly valued it, but he did not know how this text came to be. Some say: “Yanzi wrote it and others carried it forward.” Others say: “It was written by the descendants of Yanzi.” All of them are wrong. I suspect that it was someone among the followers of Mozi in Qi who wrote it. Mozi loved frugality and Yanzi was famous for this trait in his generation. Therefore, the followers of Mozi wrote his deeds with great respect in order to promote their own methods.

At this point, Liu Zongyuan summarizes basic features in Mohist philosophical agendas, concluding that the YZCQ shares basic traits with them. He then continues:

Ever since Liu Xiang and Liu Xin, Ban Biao (3–54) and Ban Gu,fathers and sons all classified the text among Confucian works. It is extremely regrettable that all these scholars did not examine it more closely.Had the author not been a man from Qi, he could not have recounted Yanzi’s deeds; had the author not been a follower of Mozi, he could not have rendered it the way he did. Henceforth, when classifying the text amongst philosophical books, it should be classified Mohist. It is not that Yanzi was a Mohist, but those who wrote the book were followers of the way of Mohism.

This concluding line is a bombshell in disguise — it disassociates the historical, “non-Mohist” Yan Ying from the Mohist-oriented text that bears his name. Furthermore, given the previous statement that Yanzi’s descendants likewise did not author the text, it implies that the text was not authentic. The upshot of this contention is that it did not represent authentically what it presumes to represent but serves as a vehicle to advance a hidden agenda of some Mohists from Qi to promote their own ideas.

To summarize: Liu Xiang had stated previously that the 8th pian of the Yanzi, which he created, contained problematic material that did not reflect the words of Yanzi but was probably the product of masters of rhetoric of a later age. Subsequently, the young Wang Su made a stupendous effort throughout the whole 18th chapter of the Kongcongzi to persuade his readers that Yanzi was not an anti-Confucian who subscribed to Mohist views identical to those he himself pronounced in the 8th pian of the YZCQ .But it was rather Liu Zongyuan’s blunt and unsparing criticism that changed the course of the entire text of YZCQ ’s trajectory — its authenticity, date,authorship, and philosophical vision henceforth always would be subject to debate — and almost each of these debates will always echo Liu Zongyuan’s iconoclastic views of the text, at least in spirit.

(Ⅵ) A Bibliographical Confusion: The YZCQ during the Song

The transmission of the YZCQ during the Song splits into two inconsistent lines of transmission: the encyclopedic, which manifests the impression of a stable transmission of the text; and the bibliographical,which seems to undermine this impression.

(Ⅵ-1) The YZCQ in Song encyclopedias

The incorporation of many direct and indirect quotations from the YZCQ into the major encyclopedic compilations of the Song establishes an image of stable transmission of a single text over a period of 300 consecutive years throughout the Song. The following list of 122 directly quoted items demonstrates the scope of the text’s popularity and its unchanging transmission-status as a source of ancient lore during the Song:

When all the Song encyclopedia quotations of the YZCQ are digitally assembled to form an integrated database together with all the YZCQ quotations that appear in the Tang encyclopedias and anthologies, the appearance of identical items repeatedly quoted from the two eras suggests a continuous line of stable transmission of the YZCQ text that starches from the early Tang to the end of the Song. One specific item in this database,however, deserves a privileged status in evaluating the transmission of the text. The last, 215th item in the received text of the YZCQ is not only first directly quoted in two Tang anthologies, Qun shu zhi yao (631) and Yilin (ca. 823), but is then subsequently quoted in the Song encyclopedia Taiping yulan (938), and finally is quoted in the Ming encyclopedia Tian zhong ji 天中记 (1569). However, this passage can also be traced back to its ancient origin as bamboo strips no. 624-630, which comprises the sixteenth item in the Yinqueshan Yanzi. The stages that these seven bamboo strips have traversed in their journey from Tomb #1 in Yinqueshan(140 BCE), through the Tang anthologies and the Song and Ming encyclopedias, up to the formation of the received text from the various printed editions, can therefore be specified, and can enhance the impression of the stable transmission of the entire text of the YZCQ throughout the ages.

(Ⅵ-2) The YZCQ in Song catalogues and bibliographical lists

From the 1st century CE through the Sui and the Tang, the Yanzi text was persistently transmitted under the titles Yanzi or YZCQ as either an 8 pian, 7 pian or 7 juan text. Throughout this period, all ascribed the authorship of the text to Yan Ying himself, except for Liu Zongyuan (773–819), who argued in his “Mohist” essay that the text was a product of a follower of Mozi from Qi. In the Song, however, many sources began to list the text as a 12 juan one. Some scholars argued that Yanzi’s 8 pian text of the Han was no longer extant, and several major bibliographers denied to Yan Ying the authorship of the text.

Wang Yaochen 王尧臣 (1001–1056) was probably the first to record in his catalogue, Chongwen zongmu 崇文总目, a 12 juan text of the YZCQ . He placed the text in the section devoted to Confucian writings, stated that the 8 pian text of the Han was no longer extant, and determined that it would be wrong to ascribe the authorship of the text to Yan Ying because, as he argued, the text was written by later authors.

Following Wang Yaochen, Chao Gongwu 晁公武 1105–1180 also listed the YZCQ as a 12 juan text in his private library catalogue Junzhai dushu zhi 郡斋读书志. However, he incorporated a large quotation from Liu Zongyuan’s “Mohist” essay, explicitly adapted Liu’s argument, and placed the text in the section devoted to Mohist writings.

Somewhat later, Chen Zhensun 陈振孙 (fl. 1211–1249) added in his Zhizhai shulu jieti 直斋书录解题 a detailed reference to the YZCQ, in which he tried to incorporate all possible bibliographical worlds. He placed the text back in its traditional section devoted to Confucian writings and then made the following comment:

YZCQ in 12 juan . Written by Yan Ying Ping Zhong, a High Officer from Qi. The Hanshu states that the text consists of 8 pian but the reference is to a text entitled Yanzi . In the Sui and Tang, the text was listed as 7 juan text and began to be entitled YZCQ . Now the number of juan differs so I do not know if this text is indeed the original text or not.

At the end of the Song era, Wang Yinglin 王应麟 (1223–1296),commenting on the section devoted to Confucian writings in the Hanshu Yiwenzhi , adapted Liu Zongyuan’s “Mohist” view of the text. He also proffered an awkward explanation concerning the discrepancy regarding whether the text involves 8 pian or 12 juan . He followed Wang Yaochen’s argument according to which later authors compiled the text and thereby arrived at the conclusion that later textual accretion of material altered the inner division of the text from 8 pian to 12 juan .

It is worth noting that, as late as the end of the Qing, Liu Shipei 刘师培 (1884–1919) added another convoluted explanation in order to deal with the conflicting bibliographical references to the text of the YZCQ as either 8 pian or 7 or 12 juan text. He suggested that during the Sui and the Tang, the two “Miscellany” (杂) chapters ( pian 5 and 6) were combined to form one juan and that afterwards, in the Song, the first 5 juan of this “new” 7 juan edition were divided into two juan , forming a set of 10 juan that together with the “Outer” 2 juan (which remained intact) gave rise to the 12 juan edition of the YZCQ .

It seems, however, that the elegant way in which the editors of Siku quanshu (1782) dealt with this puzzle of divergent bibliographical references, approximately 100 years before Liu Shipei, should have resolved this confusion. Toward the end of the “Synopsis” (提要) of their textual version of the YZCQ, they added the following short section in which they discussed the bibliographical discrepancies of the text:

The Hanzhi [ Hanshu Yiwenzhi ] and the Suizhi [ Suishu Jingjizhi ] listed the text as an 8 pian text. Then, in the bibliographies of Chen Zhensun and Chao Gongwu it was listed as a 12 juan text. It turned out that by then, the arrangements of the text’s chapters have already been considerably altered.

In these few short lines, the Siku Quanshu ’s editors first acknowledge the existence of the bibliographical discrepancies recorded from the Han throughout the Song. They then suggest the obvious. Namely, they claimed that these discrepancies were the result of the considerable changes in the arrangement of chapters that the text had undergone over the decades; that is, that all these discrepancies were purely technical in nature, and nothing more. Simply stated, the entire uncertainty boils down to the confusion surrounding the transmission and editing of the text over the years.

(Ⅶ) In Print: The YZCQ from Song through Qing

(Ⅶ-1) Early Editions of the YZCQ: The Yuan woodblock and the Ming movable type editions

It is entirely reasonable to infer that a woodblock edition of the YZCQ already existed in the Song; however, evidence to that effect is quite paltry,almost nonexistent. Therefore, any such assumptions remain a matter of conjecture. In any event, two of the notably earliest woodblock and moveable type editions of the YZCQ whose existence has been verified are:

(1) A woodblock edition stored in the family collection of Zhang Jinwu’s 张金吾 (1787–1829) in Zhao-wen 昭文 — today’s Changshu City (常熟) in Jiangsu Province (江苏). It was comprised of 8 pian and included a table of contents for each chapter and explanatory headings that were inserted at the beginning of all 215 items of the text.

(2) A movable type edition produced in the Ming, and preserved in Ding Songsheng’s 丁松生 (1832–1899) Library of 8,000 juan of Movable Type Editions in Renhe County (仁和) in Zhejiang Province (浙江省).

This edition also consisted of 8 pian and included a table of contents for each chapter and explanatory headings that were inserted at the beginning of all the 215 items of the text. Years later, this Ming movable type edition was reproduced in the 20th century in the SBCK series and then became the text on which the text of the YZCQ ICS Ancient Chinese Text Concordance Series was based.

(Ⅶ-2) Later editions of the YZCQ: The Siku Quanshu edition of 1780 and Sun Xingyan’s commentary edition of 1788

The Siku Quanshu editors classified the YZCQ in the sub-category of “Biographical Works” (传记) in the “History Branch” of their monumental collection of texts. In doing so, they avoided the need to determine whether the YZCQ comprised a Confucian or a Mohist text. Their textual version,as previously noted, was based on the Li family Mianmiaoge woodblock edition of the late Ming and therefore included neither a table of contents nor item headings, as did the late Ming movable type edition that was based on the Yuan woodblock edition. Their Synopsis (提要), which is printed as a preface to the text, begins by condensing into a few lines over 1,000 years of bibliographical history, from the late Han through the Song. They then characterize the contents of the text as similar to those of two famous Tang admonishment texts, and then render their judgment concerning the text’s authorship problem. They hold that the name of the text’s compiler was missing from the original text and that therefore Yan Ying was named as its author in order to give the text credibility. The editors then point to an absurd item that could not have possibly been included in the original text. They continue to present the historical debate between those scholars who considered the YZCQ a Confucian text and those who thought the text was Mohist. They conclude that Yan Ying, the person, lived a bit before Mozi, at the time the wandering scholar Shi Jue (史角), whose disciples eventually became Mozi’s teachers, was staying in Lu, o Yan Ying might have known him and been introduced to “Mohist” ideas even before Mozi himself. The Synopsis then refers to the fact that the text was listed under two titles — Yanzi and YZCQ — and determines that the use of the title YZCQ was appropriate because some texts such as Lüshi chunqiu and others were not chronologically arranged by years and months and nevertheless bore in their title the metonymy Chunqiu 春秋 (“spring and autumn”). The Synopsis ends by presenting the divergent bibliographical references to the text and explains their editorial choice for the adapted Ming edition.

Sun Xingyan’s 7- juan commentary edition contained 8 pian . By interweaving pian and juan, Sun Xingyan managed to resolve the historical problem of the bibliographical discrepancy that arose from the bibliographical references to the Han 8- pian text and the Tang 7- juan text.His edition, which was based on two Ming editions, included neither a table of contents nor any item headings. He appended a long set of philological notes, entitled Yinyi 音义, of textual variations and clarifications, many of which were based on extracts from major encyclopedias such as Yiwen leiju,Chuxue ji, and Taiping yulan, as well as from the commentary to the literary anthology Wen Xuan . His edition included Liu Xiang’s Preface to the text,as well as his own Preface, in which he made the following important statements:

1. Based on internal textual and external bibliographical evidence —the text could not possibly have been considered a forgery.

2. The text was created during the Warring States period after Yanzi’s death by the hands of guest retainers who collected stories about his deeds and activities from the official annals of the state of Qi.

3. The censorship performed by some Ming publishers against the anti-Confucian items that appear in the last Outer Chapter of the text is unjustified.

4. The textual material in the six Inner Chapters of the text justifies its traditional inclusion under the section devoted to Confucian writings.

5. The explanation provided in the Yuhai for the discrepancies in the number of juan in the text is “preposterous.”

6. Scholars, such as Liu Zongyuan, who considered the YZCQ a Mohist text, are ignorant and lacking in understanding.

7. The material contained in the last Outer Chapter of the text in no way harms the “great Way” of Confucianism. Liu Xiang likewise referred to the last Outer Chapter of the YZCQ as containing inauthentic material written by later people, and that in contrast to the authentic “inner chapters,”half of all ancient textual “outer chapters” always served as a platform for inauthentic writers seeking credibility.

(Ⅶ-3) The YZCQ during last decades of the Qing

During the last several decades of the Qing, the continuing textual scholarship on the YZCQ did not register any major breakthrough providing new insights into the text. Notable during this period is the celebrated late Qing and early Republican scholar Liang Qichao 梁启超 (1873–1929),who, together with scholars such as the aforementioned Liu Shipei 刘师培 (1884–1919), focused on the central questions related to the YZCQ .Liang’s view of the text is a composite of many of the previous insights that Chinese scholarship had produced over the preceding two millennia. Liang first offered the daring bibliographical observation according to which the Yanzi text listed in the Hanshu was not only the same text to which Sima Qian referred in the Shiji , ut probably the same text Liu An referenced in his Huainanzi ; that is, the Remonstrations of Yanzi . He then followed Liu Zongyuan’s view that the YZCQ was written by followers of Yanzi in Qi but nevertheless simultaneously stressed, in light of the Siku Quanshu editors’ perspective, that these followers from Qi did not know Mozi (alluding to the fact that although the YZCQ might have a Mohist flavor, it had nothing to do with Mozi the person). Liang concluded his short piece by stating that the YZCQ acquired the celebrated name of “Yanzi”in its title only in later times, and that the actual date of its composition might be stretched beyond the Warring States period into the beginning of the Han dynasty. As for the received version, Liang expressed doubts as to whether the version is identical to the text referred to by Sima Qian and Liu An, but simultaneously averred that the received version is most probably the same text Liu Xiang compiled and is thus by no means a later product.

Towards the end of the Qing, one of the earliest scholarly references to the YZCQ in a Western language appeared in Shanghai. The British missionary Alexander Wylie in 1867 followed the Siku Quanshu classification and listed the text in the section devoted to bigraphical works of his Notes on Chinese Literature. He then added a short comment saying that the YZCQ was written some centuries before the Christian era and that it was “a personal narrative” of Yan Ying, “a reputed disciple of” Mozi.

In summary: at the end of the Qing and during the early Republic years, the decisive questions about the authenticity and philosophical characteristic of the YZCQ remained suspended in air — the ongoing textual scholarship of the YZCQ was in need of a broader circle of contributors and committed readers of the text in order to create a space in which new alternative voices could cope with the unsettled questions surrounding the text. Indeed, as it turned out, during the 20th century, the YZCQ ’s scholarly circles of committed readers and contributors did expand significantly—westwards.

(Ⅷ) An Archeological Breakthrough and Digital Humanities:Expanded Accessibility to the YZCQ during the 20th Century and into the 21st

(Ⅷ-1) The YZCQ from 1923 to 1972

The discovery of 102 “Yanzi” bamboo strips and fragments, excavated at Yinqueshan in 1972, shook up the long history of textual scholarship of the YZCQ . Prior to that, during the first seven decades of the 20th century,several Western and Chinese scholars made the YZCQ more accessible to students of Chinese philosophy and provided new perspectives regarding the problem of the text’s authorship, date, and authenticity. These scholars include Alfred Forke (1867–1944); Henri Maspero (1883–1945); George Kao (1912–2008); Richard L. Walker (1922–2003); and Burton Watson(1925–2017). In China the most prominent YZCQ scholars were, among others, Zhang Chunyi 张纯一 (1871–1955); Wu Zeyu 吴则虞 (1913–1977);and Wang Gengsheng 王更生 (1928–2010).

Alfred Forke’s pioneering 1923 essay on the YZCQ still resonates to this day with important insights. Forke argued that the YZCQ was an authentic — that is, an ancient — text, which he dated to the fifth century BCE. He claimed that the text’s chief protagonist, Yanzi, dedicated his life to the service of his ruler and his people based on a set of pragmatic values.For Forke, Yanzi was a politician and not a pathbreaking theoretician immersed as Confucians had been — in his view — in a world of abstract knowledge and profound learning. Nor was he, in Forke’s eyes, a great statesman of Guan Zhong’s caliber; however, as a “charakter,” Forke argued, Yanzi outstripped the latter. Forke’s essay was comprised of several parts including a fully reconstructed biography of Yanzi drawn from various traditional sources; a detailed discussion of the history of the text; and a lengthy analysis of the text’s philosophy regarding topics such as ethics,thrifty, human relationships, and the interaction between the ruler and the people. Notable among these points is Forke’s groundbreaking analysis of the text’s advocacy of a kind of “natural religion” that makes it “ganz rationalistisch” in comparison to Confucius’ and Mozi’s religious beliefs.Finally, the essay presented an insightful examination of the authenticity of the first few items of the eighth chapter of the YZCQ, which contain aggressive attacks on Confucius and Confucianism.

Henri Maspero’s 1927 discussion of the YZCQ in his La Chine antique was less than two pages long; yet it comprised a masterful characterization of the entire text. Maspero dated the YZCQ to the middle of the fourth century BCE and identified it, among other texts of that era, as a “historical romance”; that is, as a text whose writer mixed genuine historical facts with his own imagination. Maspero was the first to observe that the text exhibits in addition to its Mohist inclination a contrarian attitude not only towards Confucius but also towards the Guanzi . He nevertheless maintained that the YZCQ ’s philosophical ideas, for all their intellectual value, were uninteresting and banal. Regarding literary style, however, Maspero expressed his admiration for the liveliness with which many of the scenes were staged. His long bibliographical note in which he traced references to the authentic YZCQ in various sources from Han through the Tang — that is, references to the text before it underwent editorial changes during the Song and Yuan — still serves as a persuasive argument that a great part of the original YZCQ text was authentically transmitted through the received version.

George Kao’s 1946 anthology Chinese Wit & Humor included English translation of twelve relatively long items of the YZCQ . The anthology not only introduced the witty Yanzi to the Western reader but also granted Yanzi equal footing, as far as “wit” was concerned, with such monumental figures in Chinese history as Confucius, Mencius, Zhuangzi, Liezi and Hanfeizi.

Richard Walker’s 1952 weighty sinological analysis of the YZCQ introduced the text to academic circles in the English-speaking world and explored many of the text’s complexities long discussed by Chinese scholars. To this day, Walker’s essay still provides a roadmap that sinologists should take into account when constructing their own critical studies of a text such as the YZCQ . Walker’s primary goal was to elevate the status of the YZCQ, “which has remained outside the pale of the extensive research,” and to see how Forke’s 1923 essay “stood the test of time” 25 years after it was published. In doing so, Walker suggests to replace the dignified title Annals of the Philosopher Yen ” with a more casual title such as “ Speeches” or Aphorisms” of Yanzi. At the same time, he characterizes Yanzi’s ability as it emerges from the text as merely “to extricate himself from ticklish situations by verbal gymnastics.” Thus, the reader is left perplexed as to the essayist Walker’s real intention. Obviously, one cannot elevate a long-ignored text like the YZCQ to the status of the most celebrated text of ancient China by deflating its title and by characterizing its protagonist as proficient in nothing more than the mediocre art of “verbal gymnastics.” And indeed, as the opening statements of the essay and all its introductory comments conclude, Walker actually aims at the heart of his real target: Forke’s 1923 essay. He begins by recording a few agreeable words concerning Forke’s “great amount of spadework” on the history of the text and its surrounding scholarship, and then launches an attack on Forke’s philosophical over-reading of the text and on his sinological methodology by listing flaws, culminating in the following somewhat disparaging statement: “Thus, while we may agree with Professor Forke on an early date for the YTCC [ YZCQ ], it is not alone for the reasons which he gives”. Walker then critically examines the political milieu surrounding the composition of the text, grammatically analyzes the language of the text in comparison to other texts that exhibits similar contents, and brilliantly evaluates what is included and what is “not included” in the multi-layer text to reach the following conclusion:

The YTCC [ YZCQ ] is an authentic text most probably pre-dating the Tso-chuan [ Zuozhuan ]. A likely date of composition is sometime two or three generations after the death of Yen-tzu [Yanzi] when stories about him had become legendary, and not so long after his death for impossible fabrications to have entered in or for the text to have been formalized,philosophically or institutionally. This would probably place it some time before 400 B.C.

In 1962, Burton Watson’s excellent short subchapter on the YZCQ paved new directions for understanding and exploring the text, especially on psychological levels. Watson placed the YZCQ in the “Philosophy” section of his survey of early Chinese literature and portrayed its chief protagonist,Yanzi, as a dour Mohist who advocated frugality and made the life of his indulgent ruler very difficult as a result of his “ubiquitous carpings.”Offering a fresh perspective on a story that for almost two millennia was championed as a rare example of a minister of great integrity who delivered honest remonstrations against his self-indulgent ruler, Watson took the Duke’s “side.” Watson’s new approach contravened the pious moralizing the text had as its core for millennia, and transformed it into a modern theatrical drama that the audience is invited to interpret freely. Furthermore,Watson drew the attention of future readers of this drama to its portrait of a static world that allows neither progress nor breakthroughs. The world and the main protagonists of the YZCQ remain unmoved from their original positions; indeed, in Watson’s words: “Almost invariably the Duke admits his folly and agrees to reform. Yet in the following anecdote we find him back at his old mischief.” No doubt, Watson’s view of the YZCQ gave the text a flare of Godot absurdity— “Nothing to be done.”

Between 1930 and 1962, two new annotated editions appeared in China that made the YZCQ much more accessible to potential readers everywhere. In 1936, Zhang Chunyi 张纯一 published an annotated edition entitled: Yanzi chunqiu jiaozhu 晏子春秋校注 (preface, 1930). This extremely rich and detailed commentary dealt with the textual difficulties of the text by first referring the reader to Sun Xingyan’s commentary of 1788 and then by making extensive comparative references to commentaries dealing with similar textual difficulties in other classical texts.

Then, in 1962, what still ought to be regarded as the most comprehensive edition of the YZCQ , was published in China. Wu Zeyu’s 吴则虞 Yanzi chunqiu jishi 晏子春秋集释 offered an encyclopedic work containing everything worth knowing about the text itself and the surrounding circumstances of its composition and transmission. Nearly all of significance that had been stated about the text — every quote and every interpretation over a period of almost two millennia — can be found in Wu Zeyu’s edition.Not only is his own commentary instructive and altogether enlightening regarding almost every textually difficult passage — to which he attached a myriad of textual references from many other commentaries —but he also provided appendices that gave the reader an extensive array of references to historical scholarship that had accumulated throughout the ages. In his “Preface” he developed a five-point argument in which he traced the authorship of the text to such Academicians as Chunyu Yue 淳于越 (ca. 214 BCE) from Qi, who relocated to Qin 秦 and served the First Emperor after the unification of China The first three of Wu Zeyu’s fiv arguments were contextually external and therefore did not carry much weight; however, his fourth and fifth arguments provided a new dimension for the discussion of the authorship of the text. They pointed to some striking value-based ideas and stylistic similarities between Chunyu Yue’s recorded remonstrations and those pronounced by Yanzi in the YZCQ .Unfortunately, the number of items in this list of compared similarities presented by Wu Zeyu was too small to derive a definitive conclusion that Chunyu Yue was behind the compilation of the text. Nevertheless, until now,these stylistic arguments should stir enough sinological interest to prompt the formation of a digital database of such similarities, a mosaic of “clues,”which could point at the direction of the identity of the “hands” which weaved the proto-text of the YZCQ . To conclude, Wu Zeyu’s monumental achievement as commentator, as bibliographer and as innovator of textual comparative research, is such that any future study of the YZCQ will have to regard his edition as the proper point of departure.

In 1966, Wang Gengsheng 王更生 completed his PhD dissertation“Yanzi chunqiu yanjiu 晏子春秋研究” (“Research on the YZCQ ”) at the Taiwan National Normal University. This was his first contribution to the study of YZCQ, which was subsequently followed by several other excellent works and two baihua translatio of the text, which garnered for him a central place in the historical scholarly study of YZCQ . The dissertation and its subsequently revised book edition constitute a concise summary of material that had already appeared in Wu Zeyu’s work of traditional Chinese scholarship concerning the authorship, authenticity, and date of composition of the YZCQ . The revised book also included a fully detailed biography and chronology of Yanzi’s life, as well as a thorough exposition and analysis of the text’s views on both philosophical and linguistic matters such as metaphysics, the spirits, life and death, ethics, political philosophy,finance, diplomatic affairs, self-cultivation, literary style, syntax, and the use of analogies.

Indeed, during the several decades prior to 1972, the YZCQ became much more accessible to readers and scholars in China and in the West alike.It was due to the continuous scholarly efforts in the study, commentary and partial translation of the text. In 1972, however, the discovery of bamboo strip fragments excavated at Yinqueshan forced the long history of textual scholarship of the YZCQ to reevaluate its own convictions in light of 102 bamboo strips.

(Ⅷ-2) The Yanzi Text in the Yinqueshan Han bamboo strips 银雀山汉墓竹简

In 1972, in the course of a construction project, 4,942 bamboo strips and fragments were excavated at Tomb #1 and Tomb #2 at the Yinqueshan银雀山, a small hill southeast of the city of Linyi 临沂 in Shandong Province, located, by some estimates, within the southern reaches of the state of Qi. The period of burial for both tombs has been dated to approximately 140/134 BCE and 118 BCE, but the 21,728 characters written in Clerical Script (隶) on the 4,942 unearthed bamboo strips were probably written somewhat earlier. Members of The Committee for the Reconstruction of Yinqueshan Han Dynasty Bamboo Strips divided the 4942 bamboo strips excavated at Tomb #1 into two groups. The first group consisted of bamboo strips that bore textual material comparable to extant traditional texts, and the second group consisted of textual materials that otherwise have been lost. Within the first group, 102 strips arranged in a continuous sequence (numbers 528-630) formed sixteen distinct textual sets,which comprise at least one item from each and every one of the eight pian of the received version of YZCQ , corresponding in content and phraseology,with very similar strings of wording. Notably, the 102 Yinqueshan Bamboo Strips of Yanzi consisted of 2,970 characters, which amount to no less than 7.2% of the entire bulk of 41,324 characters of the received text.

Two tables are presented below. Table 1 demonstrates the nearly exact textual correspondence between the first set of the Yanzi bamboo strips (No.528-531) and the corresponding Item 3 in the received version of the YZCQ .Table 2 lists all the 102 Bamboo Strips, grouped in sixteen sets arranged in continuous order, alongside their corresponding items and chapter numbers in the parallel Items in the received version of the YZCQ .

Table 1: Textual correspondence between the first set of the Yanzi bamboo strips

(No. 528-531) and the corresponding Item 3 in the received version of the YZCQ .

1st row: Yinqueshan zhujian 银雀山汉墓竹简 Yanzi

2nd row: Transcribed copy

3rd row: YZCQ , Chapter 1.3 [Item 3]

Table 2: The bamboo scripts and their corresponding items and chapter numbers in the parallel items in the received version of the YZCQ

Yinqueshan zhujian Yanzi　　　　YZCQ ’s Received version

Furthermore, between 1972 and 1977, other archeological findings such as bits of fragments of the Yanzi text dated from 179–49 BCE were excavated at Pochengzi 破城子 in Gansu 甘肃 (1972–1974), Dingxian 定县 in Hebei 河北 (1973), and Fuyang 阜阳 in Anhui 安徽 (1977). All these scripts, however, were too fragmented to allow a reconstruction of even one full coherent passage of the earliest text.

To conclude: Striking textual similarities exist between the sixteen“Yanzi” sets of the 102 Yinqueshan Han Bamboo Strips and their corresponding items in the YZCQ ’s received version. In light of all the other archeological findings of bits of fragments of the Yanzi text that were excavated in China between 1972 and 1977, and the internal textual evidence of the Huainanzi (according to which a text identified as The Remonstrations of Yanzi was known in 139 BCE, whose contents were notably similar to those of the received version of the YZCQ ), it would be quite reasonable to establish that around 200 BCE or maybe even earlier,several bamboo strip versions of a certain Yanzi text were circulating throughout the intellectual world of the early Han dynasty. And, in light of this conclusion, we may now turn to examine one exciting hypothesis positing the composition of a proto- Yanzi text took place at an even earlier date.

(Ⅷ-3) Chunyu Kun 淳于髡 (c. 340 BCE), the “Jesters” 滑稽, and the Jixia 稷下 Patronage Community Connection

In 1936, as Luo Jun 罗焌 (1874–1932) was concluding his survey on the historical scholarship of the YZCQ , he introduced a, new, staggering idea. Luo proposed his own personal view of the text: that the recorded deeds and remonstrations in the YZCQ show great affinity to those recorded about jesters like Chunyu Kun from Qi, Jester Meng 优 孟 from Chu,and Jester Zhan 优 旃 from Qin. Clearly, this idea was too abrupt and unsubstantiated. Nevertheless, it introduced a new perspective on the longheld view of the text in that it stripped the text of its distinctive historical and philosophical status and replaced the underlying identity of its chief protagonist, Yanzi, from that of a profound scholar-statesman to that of a mere master of rhetoric or jester.

Forty years later, in 1976, Wang Gengsheng tossed a similar idea into the arena of YZCQ scholarship. Wang Gengsheng suggested that such nonsense appears several items in the text, indicating that it must have been written by jesters, like Chunyu Kun and his likes, and it must reflect the imprint of the sophists of the Jixia patronage community. Then, in 1986, the “Chunyu Kun hypothesis” was reinforced by Lü Bin 吕斌. Lü presented a five-point argument showing that various elements in Chunyu Kun’s recorded sayings and life history suggest a strong affiliation with the YZCQ and hence an authorial connection. Specifically, he argued that Chunyu Kun’s remonstrations were based on admiration for Yanzi that he had direct access to the Qi archive from which he could derive information concerning Yan Ying; that he, like Yanzi, did not strictly follow any school of philosophy; and that echoes of his ideas and his facetious style resonate throughout the YZCQ . Finally, Lü pushed the “Chunyu Kun hypothesis”a step further by pointing out that both Chunyu Kun and Yanzi were portrayed as extremely short people. This striking physical resemblance,Lü argued, in conjunction with all the other evidence, suggests that an author with a biographical profile akin to Chunyu Kun projected his own personal experiences, philosophical ideas, and body image into a text that bore the name of an honored figure — Yanzi — and thus the proto YZCQ was born. Gradually, the “Chunyu Kun hypothesis” became one of the dominant theories of YZCQ authorship. Tao Meisheng 陶梅生,in his 1998 Baihua translation of the YZCQ, raised the possibility that the followers of Chunyu Kun compiled the text. Lin Xinxin 林心欣, in her master’s thesis of 2000, after discussing questions of classifying the text as Confucian, or Mohist, or biographical, she added a whole new classification to the YZCQ entitled “Jesters” (俳优 ), in which she discussed the connection between Chunyu Kun and the authorship of the YZCQ . Then, in 2005, Zhao Kuifu 赵逵夫 presented an eight-point, detailed and annotated argument largely replicating that of Lü Bin in 1986, in support of the hypothesis that the diminutive Chunyu Kun compiled the YZCQ ,an account of the diminutive Yanzi, in order to gain respect for himself despite his short stature. Finally, in 2011, Andrew Meyer published a stimulating, comprehensive paper in which he persuasively showed, inter alia, that the YZCQ was a product of Qi state patronage of the Tian 田rulers (379–221 BCE) and that the “proto- Guanzi and YZCQ served (among other things) as extended pleas to intellectuals to think of themselves not as‘Confucians’ or ‘Mohists’ but as ‘Qi-ists.’” The notion that Chunyu Kun or his followers were the compilers of the YZCQ became quite commonplace in recent sinological writings, as well as on several internet sites. However,the scope and the in-depth analysis of Meyer’s paper paved the way for future sinological research that may bring together his insights with those revealed by other researchers regarding the Jixia patronage community,the life and time of Chunyu Kun, and the jesting tradition in ancient China.

Such research possibly yield a concrete image of the first author or compiler of the proto- YZCQ .

(Ⅷ-4) The YZCQ scholarship in recent years and its future in the age of Digital Humanities and Computational Thinking

Ever since the Yinqueshan Han Dynasty bamboo strips were reconstructed, analyzed and circulated after 1974, the YZCQ became the focus of renewed sinological interest. Many scholars shared their insights and expertise, exploring new avenues to investigate textual aspects and historical issues connected with the study of the YZCQ . Notable among these scholars are Rainer Holzer who, in 1983, translated the six Inner Chapters of the YZCQ into German, to which he added a learned introduction, detailed textual comments, and many other valuable notes. In 1993, Stephen Durrant contributed an elegant roadmap to the text and its history in Michael Loewe’s bibliographical guide on early Chinese texts,thereby creating an invaluable aid for any student of the YZCQ . In China, in addition to the appearance of dozens of new baihua annotated translations of the text, no less than 280 scholarly articles have been published about the YZCQ in academic journals between 1974 and 2010. Moreover, 30 theses and dissertations have been presented at various Chinese universities and colleges between 1995 and 2010.

It seems, however, that unless a “new” set of bamboo strips of Yanzi or any other relevant text is uncovered from some future archaeological site,the study of the birth of the proto-text of the YZCQ may have exhausted itself and cannot proceed beyond the achievements of the scholarly work of the past decades. Future study of the origins of the YZCQ must therefore be conducted “algorithmically” with tools recently developed by scholars of Digital Humanities. At present the title “晏子春秋” yields a massive approximately 400,000 results in Google search. Websites such as the Chinese Ancient Texts Database (CHANT); the Chinese Text Project (Ctext),the Digital Resources of Sinology of the Academia Sinica, and many others,provide millions upon millions of searchable characters representing the vast ocean of Chinese texts from ancient times to the present, including canonic, marginal, broadly circulated, and rare texts. Text mining methods will definitely enable analysis of the big database of these millions of characters and suggest when certain names, words or idioms appear for the first time, and how they are utilized afterwards, allowing researchers to successfully answer questions concerning the time of composition of texts. Furthermore, websites like Harvard’s China Biographical Database Project(CBDB) and Fairbank Center’s Digital China already bear potential for an academic undertaking in which stylometric analysis and data extraction techniques play a major sinological role. Indeed, stylometric programs will learn the patterns of a certain author and calculate the probability that this author wrote a given text whose authorship is yet unknown, thereby solving questions regarding the authorship of particular documents. As recently reported, two researchers from the University of Texas at Austin learned the patterns of 54 dramatic works of a certain author and calculated the probability that this author wrote a given text previously attributed to someone else. Their stylometric analysis identified Double Falsehood , a play previously attributed to the Shakespearean scholar Lewis Theobald(1688–1744), as being the work of William Shakespeare himself. This discovery, which has shaken the Shakespearean scholarly community,provides every reason to imagine that a similar disruption in the near future is possible in the world of scholarship of the YZCQ . fSdMr+6xLj1syBAp3TRg8a7kZ+24QwDb7kuJzfw2PvJYxee6dcN+ip7627sUHziR