The Huainanzi

Liu An, King of Huainan, gathered scholars at his court to write a book containing everything a ruler needs to know, and presented it to his nephew, Emperor Wu, in 139 BC. Seventeen years later he was accused of rebellion and killed himself. The Huainanzi remains: twenty-one chapters on the origin of the cosmos, astronomy and the calendar, the shape of the earth, the seasons, the art of rulership, war, human nature and the Way, written in a dazzling, rhythmic prose rich in myth and anecdote. It is here that the stories of Nü Wa mending the sky and Hou Yi shooting the suns are told. This complete new English translation gives all twenty-one 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.