A court debate between the Legalist prime minister and the Confucian scholars about the role of the government in economic matters

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The Free Press A Division of Simon & Schuster Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, N.Y. 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com

Printed in the United States of America

printing number

17 19 20 18

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chinese civilization: a sourcebook / edited by Patricia Buckley Ebrey.—2nd ed., rev. and expanded.

p. cm.

Rev. and expanded ed. of: Chinese civilization and society.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-02-908752-X eISBN-13: 978-1-4391-8839-2

1. China—Civilization—Sources. 2. China—History—Sources. I. Ebrey, Patricia Buckley II. Chinese civilization and society.

DS721.C517 1993

951—dc20 92-47017

CIP

CONTENTS Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition Contents According to Topics A Note on the Selection and Translation of Sources Map of China

I. THE CLASSICAL PERIOD

1. Late Shang Divination Records. The questions and answers inscribed on oracle bones used to communicate with divine powers

2. The Metal Bound Box. A scene in which the Duke of Zhou offers his life to the ancestors in place of his nephew the king, from the Book of Documents

3. Hexagrams in the Book of Changes. Two passages from an ancient diviners’ manual

4. Songs and Poems. Songs of courtship, feasting, and war, from the Book of Songs

5. The Battle Between Jin and Chu. Description of the strategies, jockeying for position, and boasting of a major battle, from the Zuo zbuan

6. Confucian Teachings. Passages from the Analects, Mencius, and Xunzi

7. Daoist Teachings. Passages from the Laozi and Zhuangzi

8. Legalist Teachings. Passages from the Book of Lord Shang and Han Feizi

9. Two Avengers. From the Intrigues of the Warring States

10. Social Rituals. The procedures to be followed when an inferior visits a

superior and vice-versa, from the Book of Etiquette and Ritual

II. THE QIN AND HAN DYNASTIES

11. Penal Servitude in Qin Law. From excavated wooden-strip documents

12. The World Beyond China. From Sima Qian’s Historical Records

13. Heaven, Earth, and Man. From the writings of Dong Zhongshu

14. The Debate on Salt and Iron. A court debate between the Legalist prime minister and the Confucian scholars about the role of the government in economic matters

15. The Classic of Filial Piety. A popular primer that glorifies the virtue of filial devotion

16. Wang Fu on Friendship and Getting Ahead. A second-century man’s cynical view of how men get ahead

17. Women’s Virtues and Vices. An exemplary biography of a model woman, the lament of a man whose wife was far from model, and a woman’s admonitions to girls on how to behave