Occupational Streams

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaJun 2024

3.8

Word count: 787 words
Chapters: 2

Summary

The "streams" in Liuye (The Streams of Enterprise) carries two meanings. One is the stream as origin and flow: virtue, method, and art are the source of all abilities; in learning virtue, method, and art, learners differ in their preferences, and thus various kinds of talent take shape—this is the stream. The other is the sense of category. Explaining Liuye, Liu Bing says: "As the stream gradually loses its source, its enterprises differ." That is to say, when the stream of talent formation drifts ever farther from its source, various distinct types of talent emerge. These may be summarized as twelve: the pure and principled, the legalist, the strategist, the statesmanlike, the capable, the critic, the skilled, the clever, the literary, the Confucian scholar, the eloquent, and the heroic. These twelve types in turn occupy different grades. Talent that combines virtue, method, and art and is relatively complete ranks highest; those who possess all three but to a lesser degree come next; those who possess only one or two of the three come after that. The ruler's task is precisely to place them in different positions according to their different abilities so that they may play their part. Translation of Liu Bing's commentary: virtue, method, and art—the three talents—are the source; those who learn and practice are the stream; when the stream is far and loses its source, the enterprises they establish differ as well.

Editor's review

Liuye is an ancient political treatise on the classification of talent and the ruler's way of employing people. Its core idea is to take the three talents—virtue, method, and art—as the "source," and the types of ability formed by learners' differing preferences as the "stream," summarizing talent into twelve kinds: the pure and principled, the legalist, the strategist, the statesmanlike, the capable, the critic, the skilled, the clever, the literary, the Confucian scholar, the eloquent, and the heroic. This 2024 Bashu Publishing House edition includes a translation of Liu Bing's commentary, which clarifies key propositions such as "as the stream gradually loses its source, its enterprises differ," lowering the barrier to reading the original text. The book's real value lies not in labeling people, but in reminding readers: once ability is cut off from the foundations of virtue, method, and art, it will split into partial talents; what the employer must do is not demand perfection, but discern talent, assign it a place, and appoint according to ability. Read it as a mirror: observe the logic of selection in ancient times, and reflect on today's team division of labor and self-positioning. It is suited to careful reading by those interested in ancient political thought, talent studies, and management wisdom.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in ancient political thought and the classification of talent
Managers seeking wisdom on employing people from traditional classics
Students of literature and history who need to understand Liu Bing's annotated translation and the concept of "Liuye"

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a systematic modern human resources management handbook
Readers who want only light stories and are unwilling to engage with classical annotations

Reading tips

First read the translation of Liu Bing's commentary to clarify the relationship between virtue, method, and art as the source and the twelve talents as the stream.
When you reach each of the twelve talent types, summarize its strengths and shortcomings in one sentence.
Relate it to real-world team division of labor and consider which partial talent you are and which source you lack.

About the publisher

Bashu Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

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.

版权信息
流业第三

FAQ

What exactly does the "stream" in "Liuye" mean?

According to the material, "stream" has two meanings: first, the stream as origin and flow—virtue, method, and art are the source of all abilities, and learners' differing preferences produce various kinds of talent; second, the sense of category. Liu Bing's remark that "as the stream gradually loses its source, its enterprises differ" means precisely that the farther the stream of talent drifts from its source, the more the enterprises it establishes differ.

By what standard are the twelve talent types ranked?

The material shows that talent combining virtue, method, and art and relatively complete ranks highest; those possessing all three but to a lesser degree come next; those possessing only one or two of the three come after that. Thus the rank depends on the completeness of the three talents, not on the prominence of a single ability.

What practical insight does this book offer today's readers?

It offers a way of discerning talent: ability will split from the foundations of virtue, method, and art into different partial talents, and the employer should place people in different positions according to their different abilities. Read today, it can be used to reflect on team division of labor, job matching, and weaknesses in one's own ability structure—rather than simply sticking type labels on people.

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About the author

Anonymous 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.