Model Sayings

Yang Xiong wrote the Model Sayings in deliberate imitation of the Analects: short questions and answers on learning, the sage, the gentleman, the classics, the worth of historical figures and the errors of the philosophers. Pithy, sometimes cryptic, often witty, they record a great scholar's judgement on the whole tradition before him, from Confucius and Mencius to the Legalists, the persuaders and the poets of his own age, including himself. It was one of the most admired books of the Han and long read as a Confucian classic in its own right. This complete new English translation gives all thirteen chapters. Names are given in modern pinyin and key terms are rendered plainly rather than buried in jargon, so the arguments, stories and debates can be read straight through by anyone curious about Chinese thought.