He Guan Zi And Pre-Qin Taoism

He Guan Zi has been regarded as a apocryphal work since Tang Dynasty. Due to the doubtfulness of its date, He Guan Zi was not taken seriously in history, most likely to be ignored. Until 1973, after the excavation of the Mawangdui manuscripts of Lao Zi and the ancient lost manuscripts preceding the B Version, which was formed by four previously unknown works named Jing Fa, Shi Da Jing, Cheng and Dao Yuan, it was noticed that there are many similarities between Huang Di Si Jing (The Yellow Emperor's Four Classics)first named by Tang Lan lately and He Guan Zi. The occurrence of numerous parallel passages between He Guan Zi and Huang Di Si Jing has forced scholars to rethink the long accepted view of the former as a apocryphal work. As a result, the research on He Guan Zi comes a new era.In the decades since 1973,scholars have published many papers on He Guan Zi, which covered the judgment of its authenticity, the author, the date of compilation, versions, the understanding of its philosophy, politics and military ideology. It should be said that many achievements have been gained. However, studies on the whole book from the perspective of social reform and thought transformation are still lacking. Based on the results of previous studies, combined with the handed down documents and the excavated bamboo and silk manuscripts, using a combination of micro and macro methods, the thesis will deeply analyze the thought of He Guan Zi, which was written in the era of social change during Warring States, focus on its influence and status in the intellectual and especially on the development and evolution of Taoism in the late Warring States period, and then make a macro review of the thought transformation on the eve of the social reform in the end of Warring States. In addition to the introduction and the conclusion, the thesis consists of two parts that constitute the core of the paper. Chapter One introduces the social background in order to provide a long periods and large field of vision for the interpretation of He Guan Zi. Chapter Two discusses the thought of He Guan Zi and surveys its status in Pre-Qin Taoism, reveals the trend of Taoism in the era of social change and its responses to the main issues of Warring States. The interactive relationship between zeitgeist and social change is also reflected in this part.He Guan Zi is not a forged book. As a masterpiece of Pre-Qin Taoism, He Guan Zi is our valuable material in the research of the history of Pre-Qin Chinese thought, particularly useful for studying the new development of Taoism in the mid-late time of Warring States.It is compatible with Confucianism, Mohism, Xing Ming thought, legalism, the study of Number, Yin-Yang and five elements, advocating the rule of law,belongs to the School of Huang-Lao Thought. He Guan Zi is the pivot of the transition from the combination of Taoism and Legalism to the integration among Taoism and the various thought of Benevolence, Rite and Law, also is in the middle part of the transformation from following up the rule of Heaven and Earth to rely on the system that developed by government. It's no doubt that He Guan Zi was the bridge between Pre-Qin Taoism and Taoism in the early Han Dynasty. It was a product of the environment changes in Warring States Period, revealed collisions that between the profound changes in the social transformation and the development and evolution of the thought. In a word, He Guan Zi was the refraction and response to the social change in zeitgeist level during the mid-late period of Warring States, that embodied the general relationship between consciousness and existence.