The tapestry of vignette collections A study of the 'Chu shuo' chapters of 'Hanfeizi': Their composition and function

This thesis analyzes the anecdote and vignette collection chapters titled "Chu shuo" in the "legalist" early Chinese text Hanfeizi, with the focus on their process of composition, their function as a part of the Hanfeizi compilation, and their relationship to the social background of the late Warring States period. After examining the traditional assumption about texts with such jing -- shuo structure -- that the vignette collections labeled as shuo [illustrations] were composed as explanations or commentaries for the more essential jing [guidelines] texts -- I point to counter-evidence suggesting that the vignettes were compiled at least partly independently of the guidelines. I propose to interpret the guideline texts as a later superimposition, and read them as a device for organizing and incorporating existing textual materials. I further argue that there is considerable difference between the inner and outer "Chu shuo" chapters, which mirrors a corresponding difference between the Hanfeizi chapters before and after the "Chu shuo" collections. Thus the "Chu shuo" chapters serve as a hinge for the entire compilation. In contrast to the earlier chapters, the outer "Chu shuo" and the later Hanfeizi chapters argue for legalist doctrines in the context of a debate with competing ideologies developed in the Eastern Zhou period, and incorporate materials with a greater heterogeneity. This exemplifies the function the "Chu shuo" chapters perform: to appropriate circulating contemporary textual traditions for the agenda of Hanfeizi as a whole.;My analysis of the "Chu shuo" chapters shows how structural features on various levels of the text can indicate meaningfulness behind an otherwise seemingly arbitrary compilation of vignette materials. Such considerations can be applied to anecdotal materials in other early Chinese compilations, which are thus far little understood.