Garden of Eloquence / Shuoyuan??

by Liu Xiang, Eric Henry (Introduction)

Overview

Winner of the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Literary Work, sponsored by the Modern Language Association

An anthology of literary gems compiled in early China, newly translated and annotated

In 17 BCE the Han dynasty archivist Liu Xiang presented to the throne a collection of some seven hundred items of varying length, mostly quasi-historical anecdotes and narratives, that he deemed essential reading for wise leadership. Garden of Eloquence (Shuoyuan), divided into twenty books grouped by theme, follows a tradition of narrative writing on historical and philosophical themes that began seven centuries earlier. Long popular in China as a source of allusions and quotations, it preserves late Western Han views concerning history, politics, and ethics. Many of its anecdotes are attributed to Confucius’s speeches and teachings that do not appear in earlier texts, demonstrating that long after Confucius’s death in 479 BCE it was still possible for new “historical” narratives to be created.

Garden of Eloquence is valuable as a repository of items that originally appeared in other early collections that are no longer extant, and it provides detail on topics as various as astronomy and astrology, yin-yang theory, and quasi-geographical and mystical categories. Eric Henry’s unabridged translation with facing Chinese text and extensive annotation will make this important primary source available for the first time to Anglophone world historians.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295806334
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	01/16/2022
Series:	Classics of Chinese Thought
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Liu Xiang (79–08 BCE) was a scholar-official of the Western (Former) Han dynasty. Eric Henry is senior lecturer emeritus of Asian studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Abbreviations xi

Chronology of Dynasties xii

Introduction xiii

Garden of Eloquence / Shuoyuan

1 The Way of a Ruler $$$ 2

2 The Craft of an Officer $$$ 76

3 Building the Root $$$ 130

4 Establishing Integrity $$$ 184

5 Prizing Virtue $$$ 222

6 Repaying Favors $$$ 280

7 Principles of Government $$$ 338

8 Honoring the Worthy $$$ 408

9 Upright Remonstrance $$$ 494

10 Diligent Care $$$ 566

11 Skill in Argument $$$ 628

12 The Performance of Missions $$$ 690

13 Judgment and Strategy $$$ 738

14 Impartiality $$$ 814

15 Military Affairs $$$ 860

16 Aphorisms $$$ 902

17 Miscellaneous Discourses $$$ 966

18 Discrimination $$$ 1038

19 The Cultivation of Civil Order $$$ 1110

20 Returning to the Essence $$$ 1196

Appendix: List of Anecdote Titles Created by Translator 1243

Bibliography 1265

Allusions Index 1279

Personal Name Index 1281

Place Name Index 1307

Topics and Motifs Index 1317

What People are Saying About This

J. Michael Farmer

"This definitive translation of a very important classical Chinese text with its useful scholarly apparatus will be of great value to the fields of Chinese history and literary studies."

Anne Behnke Kinney

"With his usual wit and style, Eric Henry brings to life Liu Xiang's Shuoyuan. This engaging compendium of anecdotes and aphorisms addresses the various means to achieve an enlightened government. But it is also an important source on other topics, such as music, morals, yin-yang theory and rhetoric. The text also embodies the Han fondness for mining historical anecdotes for useful models of administering the state. In short, the Shuoyuan is essential reading for understanding the political and administrative concerns of the late Western Han dynasty."

Christoph Harbsmeier

"The Shuoyuan is one of the most important texts that have come down to us from the Han dynasty. Eric Henry's complete and profusely annotated translation includes the establishment of a carefully collated critical text based on the best modern critical editions published in China. Professor Henry's work, based on many years of meticulous research, makes a very substantial contribution to the study of ancient Chinese intellectual history."

Sarah Queen

"Perhaps more than any other scholar of early China, Liu Xiang was responsible for determining the content and configuration of official Chinese knowledge. Henry’s translation makes audible in English a hitherto unheard but important voice."

Editorial Reviews

"[S]uperbly crafted and aptly annotated. A monumental translation, which is much recommended to scholars of Confucianism and premodern East Asian religions."

Religious Studies Review

"[M]asterful and meticulously annotated rendering of Shuoyuan說苑. Garden of Eloquence is an excellent and beneficial contribution to the growing number of translations of ancient Chinese literature."

IIAS Newsletter

[M]asterful and meticulously annotated rendering…[A] solid and clear translation, the value of which is greatly enhanced by the paratextual presentation and substantial scholarly apparatus that accompany it.

International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS)