The Chapter on Weighing

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaJun 2024

4.2

Word count: 582 words
Chapters: 2

Summary

The Chuai Pian is the seventh chapter of Guiguzi. To fathom feelings, one must go to the other when he is at the height of joy and draw out his desires to the utmost; when he has desires, he cannot conceal his feelings.

Editor's review

The Chuai Pian is presented here as a standalone piece—the seventh chapter of Guiguzi—brief in length yet concentrated in meaning. Its core lies in the two words "fathoming feelings": it stresses going to the other when his emotions are at their height, drawing out his desires so that his true feelings cannot be hidden. This approach moves interpersonal insight from static observation to dynamic guidance, with a distinctly practical and dialectical character. The 2024 Bashu Shushe edition presents it as a single piece, making it easy for readers to focus on the text itself and repeatedly savor its rhetorical logic and psychological reasoning. Its value lies not in copying its power tactics but in understanding how the ancients observed the gaps between emotion, desire, and speech, and using that to reflect on misjudgments of information in everyday communication. It suits close reading by those interested in pre-Qin thought, strategic culture, and the art of language, and also serves as an entry point to reading Guiguzi as a whole. A caution: the language here is terse and profound, requiring patience with annotations and context; it should not be speed-read with a utilitarian mindset.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in pre-Qin thinkers and strategic culture
Those hoping to improve interpersonal communication and emotional observation
Students who need single-chapter close-reading material for a Guiguzi course
Readers who enjoy short classical texts and are willing to savor them repeatedly

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a systematic, complete course in strategy—a single chapter has limited scope
Those averse to strategic content and preferring pure literary reading
Beginners with weak classical Chinese who are unwilling to consult annotations

Reading tips

Read the original text twice first, then go through the annotations sentence by sentence to trace the reasoning chain of "fathoming feelings."
Read alongside other chapters of Guiguzi and observe how "chuai" (fathoming) and "mo" (probing) echo each other.
After reading, review a daily conversation to test whether the methods of observing emotion described here are usable.

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
揣篇第七

FAQ

What is the Chuai Pian mainly about?

This chapter focuses on "fathoming feelings," advocating going to the other when his emotions are at their height so that his desires are fully exposed and his true feelings cannot be hidden. It discusses how to obtain deep information about the other through timing and verbal guidance, and is one of the chapters of Guiguzi that leans toward psychological insight.

Can I read this chapter directly without having read all of Guiguzi?

Yes. The chapter is short and its core concepts are concentrated, making it a suitable entry point. It is advisable, however, to use annotations to understand its place in the whole book, and after finishing, extend to related chapters such as the Mo Pian for a more complete understanding.

Is the content of this chapter suitable for direct use in everyday communication?

The methods here carry a clear strategic flavor and should not be applied mechanically. A more valuable reading is to treat it as a sample of how the ancients observed the relationship between emotion and speech, using it to reflect on one's own communication habits rather than copying its manipulative techniques.

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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.