Zhanguo Ce
The Zhanguo Ce (Chinese战 国策/战 国策; Pinyin: Zhanguo Cè; Wade- Giles: Chan -kuo Ts'e; " Stratagems of the Warring States" ) is a well known classic work of Chinese literature on the time of the Warring States Period, which was compiled in the time of the Western Han Dynasty by Liu Xiang. It is among other things for the exploration of the time of the Warring States Period of great importance. It reports on the strategies and political views of the "School of negotiations" and gives a picture of that historical and social conditions.
Author, title and versions
The author of the Zhanguo Ce can not be determined with certainty. In the time of the Western Han Dynasty six versions of the texts were discovered the "School of negotiations" during his editorial work on the imperial literary collection of Liu Xiang, who were in very poor condition and incomplete. Liu Xiang revised this text and summarized them in a new plant, the Zhanguo Ce together. So it is not the work of a single author.
In the following centuries, parts of the Zhanguo Ce were lost. At the time of the Northern Song Dynasty Zeng Gong claimed to have found some of the lost chapters and edited the "modern" version. In 1973, some of the texts found during an excavation of a tomb from the time of the Han Dynasty at Mawangdui near Changsha on textiles, the 1976 in Beijing under the title Zhanguo Zonghengjia Shu ( Wade- Giles: Chan -kuo Tsung- heng - chia Shu, "Texts of the School of negotiations from the time of the Warring States" ) were issued. The book contains 27 chapters, of which eleven have a strong resemblance to the corresponding chapters of the Zhanguo Ce and the Sino史记Shiji. The publication appeared in 1977 in Taiwan under the title Boshu Zhanguo Ce ( Wade- Giles: Po -shu Chan -kuo Ts'e ).
Structure
The Zhanguo Ce is a chronicle of the history of the time of the Warring States by conquest of the Zhi family in the year 490 BC to the failed assassination attempt on Qin Shi Huangdi by Gao Jianli in 221 BC.
The book contains about 120,000 words and is in 33 chapters (卷Chinese; Juan ) or 497 sections divided. The twelve stratagems are:
- Dong Zhou Ce ( Strategies of the Eastern Zhou ) - Chapter 1
- Xi Zhou Ce ( Strategies of the Western Zhou ) - Chapter 1
- Qin Ce ( Strategies of Qin ) - Chapter 5
- Qi Ce ( Strategies of Qi ) - Chapter 6
- Chu Ce ( Strategies of Chu ) - Chapter 4
- Zhao Ce ( Strategies of Zhao ) - Chapter 4
- Wei Ce ( Strategies of Wei) - Chapter 4
- Han Ce ( Strategies of Han) - Chapter 3
- Yan Ce ( Strategies of Yan) - Chapter 3
- Song Wei Ce ( Strategies of song and Wey ) - Chapter 1
- Zhongshan Ce ( Strategies of Zhongshan ) - Chapter 1
Literary criticism
The Zhanguo Ce describes social relations and gives an impression of scholarship at the time of the Warring States Period. It is not only of historical importance, but also an excellent literary work. Important events and historical information can be played back in for that time very objective and vivid descriptions. Detailed reports of speeches and deeds of the followers of the school of negotiations convey their mindset and intellectual performance significantly. Also on the righteousness, the courage and determination of many characters is reported. The intellectual tendencies of the School of negotiations are set out and described the multicultural aspects and the flowering of intellectual life of the time.
In literary terms, the Zhanguo Ce is the beginning of a new era of classical Chinese literature. Among various aspects witness especially the portrayal of characters, the use of language and the metaphorical reports of a high and clear literary quality. The Zhanguo Ce influenced the Shiji strong.
Regardless of the intellectual aspects of the work were discussed controversially. The main reason was its strong emphasis on fame and profit, and his conflict with the Confucian ideology. The work tends to overestimate the historical importance of the School of negotiations, which detracts from its historical value.
The Chinese proverb "If three people claim to have seen a tiger, believe it all soon. " (Chinese三人 成 虎) comes from the Zhanguo Ce.
Translations
In extracts it was transferred in 1912 by Franz Hübotter into German and published under the title From the plans of the Warring States, together with the corresponding biographies of Se -ma Ts'ien. (Berlin, 1912)