Eliminating the Strong
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- University students studying pre-Qin Legalist thought and ancient political philosophy
- Enthusiasts of Chinese intellectual history who need supplementary primary readings in Legalism
- Readers in history and literature concerned with ancient agriculture-war policy and grassroots governance
- Teachers preparing courses on selected Legalist texts as reference for lesson preparation
Not a good fit for
- Practical readers seeking modern management techniques or workplace methodologies
- Beginners with no foundation in classical Chinese who need sentence-by-sentence vernacular translation
- Readers expecting a systematic and complete Legalist theoretical system but reading only a single chapter
Reading tips
- First read through the original text once, marking key terms such as "qu qiang," "punishment," "agriculture and war," and "merchants," then review the argument thread.
- Read alongside other Legalist chapters, comparing how different texts handle the relationship between "the people" and "government orders."
- While reading, distinguish the author's historical context from one's own standpoint, understanding the claims historically rather than applying them directly.
- Take a one-page note outlining the correspondence between the problems raised in this chapter, the means proposed, and the expected effects.
About the publisher
Bashu Publishing House is a publisher centered on collating and publishing classical Chinese cultural texts, with its main publishing areas covering classical literature, Eastern philosophy, ancient poetry, and educational classics. Its library currently holds 1,075 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Renjian Cihua, and Out to the Frontier, involving authors such as Cao Xueqin, Wang Xizhi, Wang Guowei, Wang Changling, Liu Xie, and Yan Yu. These reflect the publisher's focus on literary classics, poetry criticism, and philosophical readings. Its publishing character lies in working around ancient texts and canonical works, with attention to textual collation and presentation. Public information on its more detailed publishing background and series plans is limited; this introduction is based only on the library's book information.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 正文一
- 正文二
- 正文三
- 正文四
- 正文五
FAQ
What does the chapter title "Qu Qiang" mean?
What are the main methods of qu qiang proposed in this chapter?
Can I read this book without a foundation in classical Chinese?
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About the author
Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.
