Guanzi (text)

Ancient Chinese political and philosophical text

This article is about the ancient Chinese text. For its traditional author, see Guan Zhong.

Guanzi

Chinese| 管子
Literal meaning| "[Writings of] Master Guan"
| Transcriptions

Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin| Guǎnzǐ
Wade–Giles| Kuan3-tzu3
IPA| [kwàn.tsɹ̩̀]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization| Gún-jí
Jyutping| Gun2-zi2
IPA| [kun˧˥.tsi˧˥]
Southern Min
Tâi-lô| Kńg-tzú
Old Chinese
Baxter–Sagart (2014)| *[k]ˤo[n]ʔ tsəʔ
Part of a series on

Taoism

* Outline
* History

Concepts

* Taoist philosophy
* Tao
* De
* Wuji
* Taiji
* Yin and yang
* Bagua
* Wuxing (five phases)
* Bianhua
* Fan (reversal)
* Wu wei (non-action)
* Ziran
* Xian (immortal)
* Zhenren
* True form
* Three Treasures
* Jing
* Qi
* Shen
* Hun and po

Practices

* Three Treasures (virtues)
* Five Precepts
* Ten Precepts
* Meditation
* Alchemy
* Neidan
* Waidan
* Bugang
* Chu
* Diet (Bigu)
* Sexual practices
* Art
* Fulu
* Priesthood

Texts

* I Ching
* Tao Te Ching
* Zhuangzi
* Huainanzi
* Taipingjing
* Xiang'er
* Liezi
* Sanhuangjing
* Huahujing
* Qingjing Jing
* Baopuzi
* Daozang

Theology

* Hongjun Laozu
* Three Pure Ones
* Yuanshi Tianzun
* Lingbao Tianzun
* Daode Tianzun
* Four heavenly ministers
* Jade Emperor
* Ziwei Emperor
* Tianhuang Emperor
* Houtu
* Queen Mother of the West
* King Father of the East
* Three Great Emperor-Officials
* Eight Immortals
* Chang'e
* Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
* Yellow Emperor
* Guan Yu
* Li Hong
* Body god

People

* Laozi
* Zhuang Zhou
* Lie Yukou

* * *

* Heshang Gong
* Wei Boyang
* Zhang Daoling
* Gan Ji
* Zhang Jue
* Zhang Lu
* Ge Xuan
* He Yan
* Wang Bi

* * *

* Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove
* Guo Xiang
* Sun Hanhua
* Wei Huacun
* Ge Hong
* Bao Jingyan
* Kou Qianzhi
* Lu Xiujing
* Tao Hongjing

* * *

* Cheng Xuanying
* Chen Tuan
* Zhang Boduan
* Sun Bu'er
* Wang Chongyang
* Qiu Chuji

* * *

* Zhang Guoxiang
* Zhang Sanfeng
* Zhu Quan

* * *

* Fangshi

Schools

* Huang–Lao
* Way of the Taiping
* Xuanxue
* Shangqing School
* Way of the Li Family
* Lingbao School
* Chongxuan School
* Quanzhen School
* Dragon Gate)
* Wuliupai

* * *

* Way of the Celestial Masters
* Way of the Five Pecks of Rice
* The Southern Celestial Masters
* The Northern Celestial Masters
* Zhengyi Dao

* * *

* Chinese ritual mastery traditions
* Yao Taoism

Sacred places

* Grotto-heavens
* Sacred Mountains of China
* Wudang Mountains
* Mount Penglai
* Mount Kunlun
* Taoist temple
* White Cloud Temple
* Louguantai
* Cebu Taoist Temple
* Taoist Temple (Hanford, California)

Institutions and organizations

* Chinese Taoist Association
* Celestial Masters
* Taoist priests

* v
* t
* e

Part of a series on

Chinese legalism

Figures

* Guan Zhong
* Marquess Wen of Wei
* Li Kui
* Duke Xiao of Qin
* Shang Yang
* Shen Buhai
* Wu Qi
* Shen Dao
* Zhang Yi
* Han Fei
* Li Si
* Qin Shi Huang

Han figures

* Jia Yi
* Emperor Wen of Han
* Emperor Wu of Han
* Chao Cuo
* Gongsun Hong
* Zhang Tang
* Huan Tan
* Wang Fu
* Zhuge Liang

Later figures

* Emperor Wen of Sui
* Du You
* Wang Anshi
* Li Shanchang
* Zhang Juzheng
* Xu Guangqi

Relevant texts

* Guanzi
* The Book of Lord Shang
* Shenzi (both books)
* Han Feizi
* Wuzi
* Wei Liaozi
* Annals of Lü Buwei
* Huang-Lao

Relevant articles

* Rectification of names
* Wu wei
* Discourses on Salt and Iron
* Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius

* v
* t
* e

The Guanzi (Chinese: 管子) is an anonymously written, foundational Chinese political and philosophical text. Compiled in the early Han dynasty, but mentioned in the Han Feizi, earlier, similar versions likely date back to the late Warring states period, with ideas ranging farther back;[1] despite its later dating, it is arguably one of the most representative texts of the concepts of political economy that developed during the Spring and Autumn period.[2] At over 135,000 characters, it is one of the longest early Chinese philosophical texts, originally comprising 86 chapters, of which 76 survive. It covers broad subject matter, notably including price regulation of commodities via the concept of "light and heavy" (轻重). Ming dynasty agricultural scientist Xu Guangqi still frequently cited the Guanzi and the Xunzi.[3]

Most chapters of the text deal with government and the art of rulership, but also contains chapters like the Daoistic Neiye, "Straight Thinking", and "Pure Heart" (chuan 13, essays 36-38; "Xin Shu" parts one and two, and "Pai Xin"), which K. C. Hsiao took as "clarifications of Huang-Lao ("Yellow Emperor Daoist") tenets"; although Liu Xin viewed the work as "Legalist" (Fajia), the Guanzi was still listed as Daoist in the Book of Han's Journal of Literature Chapter 30, which lists texts like Shen Buhai, Shen Dao and Han Feizi as 'Legalist'. The Guanzi was not listed as 'Legalist' until the Book of Sui's Journal of Writings.[4] It may have later been listed under it partly because the Han Feizi mentions it alongside the Book of Lord Shang.[1]

Emphasizing techniques (Shu) of government, while the Guanzi shares with other texts later listed as Legalist the view that power is independent of morality, it still advocates (Fa), a concept including law, as an adjunct to Confucian Li, which is also a "core term" in the text. Despite an "abundant" use of the term fa itself, the Huananzi, Sima Qian and Liu Xiang took it as more broadly focused on governmental measures and the restoration of political order, not specifically identifying it with fa. Based on a selected quotation from "On Sherding the People", Sima Qian considered both proper measures (服度) and Li important for the state in the Guanzi, including ritual and moderation, adequate food and clothing, distinctions between honor and shame, and relationships and cardinal virtues.[5]

Although prominent in Taiwan, translator W. Allyn Rickett dissented from the later historical, traditional Confucian view of the text as Legalist, judging it to present a view much closer to that of the late Warring States period's "realistic" Confucian Xunzi than either the "highly idealistic Confucianism of Mencius" or the "Draconian Legalism" of Shang Yang. But while earlier twentieth century scholarship commonly compared the Guanzi with the Book of Lord Shang, Han Feizi, and Confucianism, some chapters are modernly compared with the Daoistic Huangdi Sijing, following the discovery of the Mawangdui Silk Texts, encouraging a reconsideration of it's governmental ideas.[6]

## Theoretical pre-Han influence

[edit]

The Guanzi is named for and traditionally attributed to the 7th century BCE philosopher and statesman Guan Zhong, who served as Prime Minister to Duke Huan of Qi.[7] It was, however, written by several anonymous authors. The precise date of creation remains subject to historical debate.[8] It contains a wide variety of material from many different authors over several successive centuries, largely associated with the 4th century BCE Jixia Academy in the Qi capital of Linzi. But the Han dynasty scholar Liu Xiang did not edit the received Guanzi text until circa 26 BCE.[7][9][10]

The present text is "arguably a much later expression of ideas in the direction of the Han Feizi". None of its existing chapters would appear to predate the first century BCE, so that much of it would have been compiled after the Han Feizi. However, the Han Feizi is the first reference for both the Guanzi and the Book of Lord Shang. With Han Fei reputedly dying in 233 BC, a "proto-Guanzi" theoretically "took shape" in earlier form around 250 BCE, in the late Warring States period. Based on the Han Feizi, this earlier Guanzi might have already gone into broad circulation by the Han Feizi's time, alongside the Book of Lord Shang.[11][12]: 357 If the text is taken as Huang-Lao, representative of the early Daoistic Han, then although controversial, it represents the kind of mileu that Sinologist Hansen (Stanford Encyclopedia) thinks was already becoming dominant by the Qin dynasty, based on the Mawangdui silk texts.[13]

Professor Masayuki Sato 佐藤將之 disagrees with attempts by Rickett (and a "few other scholars") to date some chapters to the Han dynasty, but agrees with a late Warring States dating for most of the work, considering it's "intellectual, cultural, political, economic, and social realities" reflective of the period. Masayuki considers “Canonical Statements” the earliest chapter, only dating it as far back as the mid Warring states period.[1]

## Daoistic Content

[edit]

As is typical of an ancient Chinese text, the organization of the Guanzi has been altered over time, the chronology and significance of which is not all that clear. Covering a wide variety of subjects, ranging from detailed economic discussions to overviews of local soil topography, many chapters include Confucian values as a necessity for the state, expressing a blend of what may be considered Legalistic, Confucian, and Daoistic philosophy that has been termed "Huang-Lao". The first reference to the collection appears in the more Daostic Huainanzi, of the early Han dynasty,[10] and Han bibliographies listed the text as Daoist.[14]

Yin-yang and five phase ideas play a more important role in later chapters.[15] Its Neiye ("Inner Enterprise/Training") has a potential influence for the Zhuangzi,[12]: 357 and has the oldest recorded descriptions of Daoist meditation techniques.

> When you enlarge your mind and let go of it,

> When you relax your [qi 氣] vital breath and expand it,
>  When your body is calm and unmoving:
>  And you can maintain the One and discard the myriad disturbances.
>  You will see profit and not be enticed by it,
>  You will see harm and not be frightened by it.
>  Relaxed and unwound, yet acutely sensitive,
>  In solitude you delight in your own person.
>  This is called "revolving the vital breath":

> Your thoughts and deeds seem heavenly. (24, tr. Roth 1999:92)

## Economic and financial insight in the Guanzi

[edit]

Several chapters of the Guanzi address what modern language would call economic and monetary issues. It is a core text on the matter of price stabilization from the ancient Chinese perspective.[16] The economic policies discussed focus on insulating peasants from fluctuations in the context of then-recently developed market forces and to increase commercialization while benefitting the state.[17] “[T]his approach to economic policy suggested that the state should unleash and harness market forces in order to promote wealth for the state and the people.”[18]

The "state savings" (國蓄) chapter has been described as the first-ever exposition of the quantity theory of money, and the "light and heavy" (轻重) chapter as the first clear articulation of the law of supply and demand:[19]

> Now, the price of grain is heavy in our state and light in the world at large. Then the other lords’ goods will spontaneously leak out like water from a spring flowing downhill. Hence, if goods are heavy, they will come; if light they will go.

In the Guanzi's usage of "heavy," and "light," the former connotes something that is expensive or important while the latter connotes inexpensive or unimportant.[16] In this view, "all economic phenomena can only be understood relationally; things can be heavy or light only in relation to other things."[20]

## See also

[edit]

* Shen Dao
* Zou Yan

## References

[edit]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Pines 2024, p. 141.
2. ^ Weber, Isabella (2021). How China escaped shock therapy : the market reform debate. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 19\. ISBN 978-0-429-49012-5. OCLC 1228187814.
3. ^ Joanna Handlin Smith 2009 p.252. The Art of Doing Good: Charity in Late Ming China
4. ^ Pines 2024, p. 143; Hsiao 1979, p. 67; Graham 1989, p. 157,380.
5. ^ Pines 2024, p. 142-143.
6. ^ Pines 2024, p. 140.
7. ^ a b Rickett (1993), p. 244.
8. ^ Weber, Isabella (2021). How China escaped shock therapy : the market reform debate. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 20\. ISBN 978-0-429-49012-5. OCLC 1228187814.
9. ^ Ricket, Guanzi (1985) p.3
10. ^ a b Hansen, Chad (2000-08-17). A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought: A Philosophical Interpretation. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-535076-0.
11. ^ Pines 2017, p. 23.
12. ^ a b Hansen, Chad (August 17, 2000). A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought: A Philosophical Interpretation. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195350760 - via Google Books.
13. ^ Hansen 2020; Loewe 1999, p. 1008.
14. ^ Graham, A. C. (2015-12-15). Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China. Open Court. ISBN 978-0-8126-9942-5.
15. ^ W. Allyn RICKETT p279. Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy 2003
16. ^ a b Weber, Isabella (2021). How China escaped shock therapy : the market reform debate. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 18\. ISBN 978-0-429-49012-5. OCLC 1228187814.
17. ^ Weber, Isabella (2021). How China escaped shock therapy : the market reform debate. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. pp. 37–38\. ISBN 978-0-429-49012-5. OCLC 1228187814.
18. ^ Weber, Isabella (2021). How China escaped shock therapy : the market reform debate. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 38\. ISBN 978-0-429-49012-5. OCLC 1228187814.
19. ^ William N. Goetzmann (2016). Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible. Princeton University Press. pp. 160–161.
20. ^ Weber, Isabella (2021). How China escaped shock therapy : the market reform debate. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 21\. ISBN 978-0-429-49012-5. OCLC 1228187814.

### Sources

[edit]

Works cited

* Graham, A.C. (1989). Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China. Open Court. ISBN 978-0-8126-9942-5.
* Hansen, Chad (2020). "Daoism". In Zalta, Edward N.; Nodelman, Uri (eds.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2020 ed.). Retrieved 19 February 2024.
* Hsiao, Kung-Chuan (1979). A History of Chinese Political Thought. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-691-61289-8.
* Rickett, W. Allyn (1993). "Kuan tzu 管子". In Loewe, Michael (ed.). Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide. Berkeley, CA: Society for the Study of Early China; Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California Berkeley. pp. 244–51\. ISBN 1-55729-043-1.
* Roth, Harold. Original Tao: inward training (nei-yeh) and the foundations of Taoist mysticism. Columbia University Press. 1999.
* Loewe, Michael (1999). The Cambridge History of Ancient China. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8.
* Pines, Yuri (2017). The Book of Lord Shang: Apologetics of State Power in Early China. Abridged Edition. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-55038-3.
* Pines, Yuri (2024). Dao Companion to China's fa Tradition. Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Springer. ISBN 9789048129270.

## External links

[edit]

Chinese Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Guanzi (in Chinese)

* Guanzi 管子, Ulrich Theobald
* Unraveling Early Daoist Oral Traditions in Guan Zi's "Purifying the Heart-Mind (Bai Xin)," "Art of the Heart-Mind (Xin Shu)," and "Internal Cultivation (Nei Ye)," Dan G. Reid
* Legalism, Qin Empire and Han Dynasty, Sanderson Beck
* Guanzi 管子 (Full text in Chinese)
* Nei Ye, translation of Bram den Hond
* Sixteen Chapters on Weighing and Balancing Economic Factors (《管子·轻重十六篇》): Chaps. 72 - 73
* The New Legalist Archived 2013-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
* Guanzi 管子 Full text in Chinese
* Guanzi 《管子》 Chinese text with matching English vocabulary

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template