On Fundamental Governance
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers studying Weiliaozi and pre-Qin military texts who want to clarify the chapters' structure
- Those interested in ancient Chinese ideas of governance and livelihood
- Organizers needing short classical Chinese materials for teaching or reading groups
- Readers who like to analyze arguments layer by layer from textual structure
Not a good fit for
- Readers expecting a long systematic treatise or a complete plan for governance
- Readers who want only story-driven, narrative history
- Those unwilling to engage with classical Chinese and seeking light entertainment
Reading tips
- Read the original eleventh chapter first, then look back at the book's table of contents to confirm its place in Weiliaozi.
- List key terms such as "farming and weaving," "making the people selfless," and "moral inspiration," and compare their order of importance.
- Distinguish the author's claims from later extensions, avoiding equating the ancient context directly with contemporary policy.
- Read alongside other chapters to observe how the idea of "governing the foundations" echoes through the book.
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
FAQ
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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.
