Wei Liaozi: Difference between revisions

The work is purportedly named after Wei Liao,<ref>"Zi" (子; "Tzu" in [[Wade-Giles]] transliteration) was used as a suffix for the family name of a respectable man in ancient Chinese culture. It is a rough equivalent to "Sir" and is commonly translated into English as "Master".</ref> who is said to have either been a student of [[Lord Shang]] or an important advisor during the [[Qin Dynasty]]. However, there is little evidence to support either view. The only textual reference to Wei Liao outside of the ''Wei Liaozi'' is in the ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]] (Shiji)'', where he is cast as an advisor to [[Qin Shi Huang]], the youthful king of the state of [[Qin (state)|Qin]]. Since the Wei Liaozi contains almost no actual strategy, it is thought that Wei Liao was a [[:wikt:theoretician|theoretician]]. Questions of authorship are further clouded by the fact that two different works of the same name appear to have been known during the [[Han Dynasty]]. The work assumed its present form around the end of the fourth century BC. A new version of the ''Wei Liaozi'' was discovered in 1972 at a Han Dynasty tomb in [[Linyi]]. It is more [[philosophy|philosophical]] in tone than the received text, but differs significantly in only a few places.<ref>Sawyer (1993) pp. 229–232</ref>