Shizi (book)

The Shizi is an eclectic Chinese classic written by Shi Jiao 尸佼 (c. 390–330 BCE), and the earliest text from Chinese philosophical school of Zajia 雜家 "Syncretism", which combined ideas from the Hundred Schools of Thought, including Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, and Legalism. The Shizi text was written c. 330 BCE in twenty sections, and was well known from the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) until the Song dynasty (960–1279) when all copies were lost. Scholars during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties reconstructed the Shizi from quotations in numerous sources, yet only about 15 percent of the original text was recovered and now extant. Western sinology has largely ignored the Shizi and it was one of the last Chinese classics to be translated into English. Little is known about Shi Jiao or Shizi "Master Shi" except for references to his eponymous text. He was probably from the Warring States period state of Jin (modern Shanxi), and employed by the Legalist statesman Shang Yang (390–338 BCE), the chief minister of Qin (modern Shanxi) for Duke Xiao. When Duke Xiao died in 338 BCE, his successor King Huiwen ordered Shang Yang to be executed by dismemberment and his entire family to be exterminated. Shi Jiao fled to the state of Shu (modern Sichuan), where he wrote the Shizi in 20 sections totaling over 60,000 Chinese characters, and subsequently died. The Chinese surname Shi is commonly written 石 "stone", 史 "history", 師 "teacher", 時 "time", or 士 "scholar" – but hardly ever written shi "corpse; ceremonial 'personator' of a dead person". Besides Shi Jiao, there are few examples other than Shi Cong 尸聰 and Shi Bo 尸帛, who served Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424). The given name Jiao or Xiao can be pronounced jiǎo "handsome; beautiful; excellent", jiāo "associate; have intercourse with", or xiáo "imitate; false". Although Tang dynasty scholar Sima Zhen first noted the jiǎo 佼 in Shi Jiao was pronounced like jiǎo 絞 "twisted", some sources misspell his name as "Shi Xiao". The Shizi has had a long and dynamic history.