The Warring States Policy, also known as the National Policy, is a national history book compiled by Liu Xiang in the Western Han Dynasty. The original author is unknown, and it is generally believed that it was not written by one person. Most of the materials can be traced back to the Warring States period, including the works of strategists and records of historical materials. The original title of the book is unknown, and the author of the article in the book doesn't know who it is, nor can it be inferred for a while.
After Liu Xiang edited it, he deleted the obviously absurd content and rearranged the style according to the country, and named it "Warring States Policy".
The book has 33 volumes, divided into "policy" theories of twelve countries. The content is centered on the lobbying activities of strategists in the Warring States period, and at the same time reflects some historical characteristics and social features of the Warring States period. It is an important ancient book to study the history of the Warring States.
Traditionally, The Warring States Policy is classified as a historical work, but many chapters in the book are absurd and lack historical basis. They are not so much history as literary stories. Interestingly, the language and logic of these works are quite wonderful and have strong literariness. The other part is not very literary, but it has historical basis, which is of great historical value to the study of the history of the Warring States.
The ideological system of the Warring States policy is completely different from the historical books at that time. Liu believes that "at the time of the Warring States, the monarch's morality was shallow, and those who worked for it had to draw according to the time and the time. Therefore, seeking help and anxiety is the right of all things; Cannot be enlightened. "
The Warring States Policy is good at explaining things clearly, describing vivid characters, using a lot of fables and metaphors, and the language is vivid and literary. Both the personal statement and the debate between the two sides are very convincing. Therefore, it is also an excellent collection of essays, which has exerted considerable influence on the development of China's historical biography, literature, politics and other essays since the Han Dynasty.
There are 497 articles in the book. As early as the Song Dynasty, there were many defects, which were corrected by Ceng Gong's "Visiting the Scholar-officials' House". It was revised several times later. The Warring States policy we see today is far from the version of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
brief Introduction of the content
The Warring States Policy mainly describes the political opinions and strategies of strategists (lobbyists) during the Warring States Period from the extermination of the vanquishers in Zhi Bo in 490 BC to the attack on Qin Shihuang by Gao Jianli in 22 1 year, or the lobbying activities and words of strategists at that time, as well as the stories of their struggle for power and intelligence.
The content is centered on the lobbying activities of strategists, and at the same time reflects some political, military, diplomatic activities and social features of various countries during the Warring States period. Chronicle from the Spring and Autumn Period to the unification of Qin Dynasty. The Warring States accounted for an absolute proportion and did not record the past of the previous generation. Some people think that the start and end time chosen by Liu Xiang is of special significance.
Because many dynasties have been repaired, including Song, Yuan and Ming, and there are mistakes in copying and engraving. The existing version may be quite different from the original version.