Huángshígōng sān lüè 黃石公三畧

The Three Strategies of the Yellow-Stone Lord attributed to 黃石公 (Huángshígōng, the legendary Qín-period figure)

About the work

A three-juan classical military classic in three sections — Shàng lüè 上略, Zhōng lüè 中略, Xià lüè 下略 — pseudepigraphically attributed to Huángshígōng (the Yellow-Stone Lord), the legendary Qín-period figure who according to Shǐjì j. 55 transmitted a military classic to Zhāng Liáng on the Xiàpī bridge. The work is universally regarded as a post-Qín pseudepigraphon, conventionally dated to the Western Hàn or early Eastern Hàn. Within the Wǔ jīng qī shū canon (1080) this is the fifth-ranked work.

Abstract

The Sān lüè is one of the seven Wǔ jīng qī shū canonical military classics. Composition: Western or Eastern Hàn. The frontmatter brackets to ca. -100 to 100.

The bibliographic record: Suí shū jīngjí zhì; Wǔ jīng qī shū canonisation; SKQS Zǐbù — Bīngjiā lèi.

Translations and research

  • Ralph D. Sawyer, The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China (1993) — translation.