Treatise on the Middle

徐干Jinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) · ChinaMay 2025

4.1

Word count: 27K words
Chapters: 23

Summary

Written by Xu Gan, one of the "Seven Masters of Jian'an" in the late Eastern Han dynasty, Zhonglun is a political treatise in the masters genre. In a time of social turmoil and collapsing moral order, Xu Gan sought to expound principles, restore fundamentals, and return to the way of the sages. The first ten chapters, from "On Learning" to "Ranks and Stipends," focus on learning, self-cultivation, speech, and skills, stressing the principle "great meaning first, names of things after" and clarifying that artistry is the branch and leaf of virtue. The next ten chapters, from "Examining Falsehood" to "Population," turn to social reality, criticizing such unhealthy trends as examining falsehood and condemning associations, expounding strategies of governance such as attending to fundamentals and scrutinizing ministers, and touching on philosophical reflections on calendrical reckoning and natural lifespan. The work is rooted in classic norms; it both inherits Confucian thought and offers new views grounded in the ills of its age. Cao Pi praised it as "forming a school of its own, with elegant diction and meaning, worthy of transmission to later generations." Zhonglun is an important text for studying late Eastern Han social thought and the development of Confucianism, and it offers profound inspiration for personal conduct and social governance in later ages.

Editor's review

Zhonglun is a work of political discourse left by Xu Gan, one of the Seven Masters of the Jian'an period in the late Eastern Han. Its twenty chapters fall roughly into two parts: the first twenty, from "On Learning" to "Rank and Salary," focus on personal cultivation—study, self-cultivation, and speech—while the last ten, from "Examining Falsehood" to "The Number of the People," turn to social criticism and strategies of governance. The book's value lies in its adherence to Confucian principles while confronting the reality of collapsing moral order and a counterfeit, superficial ethos in the late Eastern Han. It proposes the order of learning in which "great principles come first, names of things afterward," analyzes the root-and-branch relationship between art and virtue, and offers concrete criticism of such unhealthy trends as false reputation and mutual reproach. Cao Pi called it "a school of its own, with elegant diction and meaning, worthy of transmission to later ages," which shows its weight at the time. Reading it, one gains a picture of late Eastern Han social thought and can also use the ancients' questioning to reflect on one's own attitude toward learning and conduct. It suits both introductory and thematic study of Confucian philosophical literature, and close reading by those interested in the intellectual history of the Jian'an period.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers of literature and history interested in late Eastern Han intellectual history and the development of Confucianism
Readers who wish to draw methods of self-cultivation and learning from classical political discourse
Students of classical Chinese literature who need to study the works of the Seven Masters of Jian'an
Lovers of traditional culture concerned with criticism of social mores and questions of governance

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting light, story-driven reading or lacking patience for classical Chinese
Readers interested only in modern management case studies and unwilling to engage ancient contexts
Specialist researchers needing a fully collated and annotated edition for scholarly citation

Reading tips

Read "On Learning" and "Examining Falsehood" first to grasp the book's twin threads of learning and criticism of reality.
Read through according to the two-part division, marking passages related to your own study and conduct as you go.
Read alongside historical background on the late Eastern Han to understand the specific social mores criticized in the book.
After each chapter, summarize its main point in two or three sentences, so as not to read for completion while missing the thread of argument.

About the publisher

Jinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) China · Founded in 1901

Jinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) was a private publishing and distribution house in Shanghai during the late Qing and early Republican periods, issuing traditional works by lithographic printing. Judging from the 1,194 titles in the collection, its publishing focused on classical poetry, Eastern philosophy, historical reading, traditional Chinese medical texts, and canonical works, along with books on literary appreciation. Representative titles include the poetry and prose collections of Du Fu and Ouyang Xiu; historical works such as the Book of Han and Zizhi Tongjian; classical texts such as the Book of Documents and Mencius; and specialized and literary classics such as Treatise on Cold Damage and Li Sao. Its author resources cover major figures across the ages, including Du Fu, Ban Gu, Sima Guang, Zhang Zhongjing, Qu Yuan, Ouyang Xiu, and Tang Shenwei, reflecting the house's characteristic reliance on traditional scholarship and medical literature while serving general readers. Public information on its early history and operational details is limited, so no conjecture is offered here.

版权信息
治学
法象
修本
虚道
贵验
贵言
艺纪
核辩
智行
爵禄
考伪
谴交
历数
夭寿
务本
审大臣
慎所从
亡国
赏罚
民数
复三年丧（补遗）
制役（补遗）

FAQ

What does the title Zhonglun mean?

The zhong in Zhonglun means balanced and impartial. Xu Gan intended to expound principles and clarify fundamentals, bringing discussion back to the way of the sages rather than seeking novelty. The title also signals that the book's discussions center on the balanced way in learning, self-cultivation, and governance.

Can I read Zhonglun without a foundation in classical Chinese?

This is a classical Chinese work of political discourse with an archaic vocabulary; readers without a foundation will face obstacles reading it directly. It is advisable to begin with an annotated or vernacular-translated edition, or with shorter chapters such as "On Learning," using reference tools to understand sentence by sentence before gradually moving on to the social criticism chapters.

What is the relationship between Zhonglun and the Analects?

Zhonglun belongs to the Confucian philosophical tradition and inherits the Analects' emphasis on self-cultivation and learning. But Xu Gan, responding to the collapsing moral order and the fashion for false reputation in the late Eastern Han, offers concrete criticism rather than simply restating the classics; he carries on the tradition with specific targets and developments.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

徐干 Author

Xu Gan: verifiable public information about his dates, birthplace, and nationality is limited. The library holds three works attributed to him, with the Zhonglun (Balanced Discourses) as his representative title. The repeated presence of the Zhonglun in the collection makes it the main entry point for understanding Xu Gan's thought and prose style. Its common classifications—historical reading, Eastern philosophy, and literary appreciation—suggest that the work combines argumentation, narrative, and literary judgment. Readers may notice how the Zhonglun discusses self-cultivation, learning, and worldly affairs in plain, well-structured prose characteristic of ancient Chinese argumentative writing. Because reliable biographical material is scarce, it is prudent not to assert details of his official career or intellectual lineage. A safer approach is to regard Xu Gan as an essayist known through the Zhonglun, appreciating from the text itself his practical concerns, emphasis on self-cultivation, and the reasons later readers have continued to read him.