長短經

Chángduǎn jīng 長短經

Classic of the Long and the Short (i.e. of strengths and weaknesses, of statecraft alternatives)

by 趙蕤 (Zhào Ruí, zì Tàibīn 太賓; native of Yántíng 鹽亭, Zǐzhōu 梓州 [Sìchuān]; fl. Kāiyuán era, preface dated Kāiyuán 4 = 716)

About the work

A late-Táng zájiā treatise in nine juan (originally ten — the tenth, on yīnmóu 陰謀, “covert stratagems,” is lost) presenting the doctrines and historical case-studies of statecraft (wángbà jīngquán 王霸經權, “the principles and contingencies of kingship and hegemony”), in 64 piān of essay-and-commentary form. Written by the Zǐzhōu recluse Zhào Ruí (who declined the Kāiyuán court’s summons), it is one of the most substantial Táng monographs in the zònghéng 縱橫 (vertical-and-horizontal, i.e. realpolitik) tradition since the Zhànguó cè. The book is organized into five thematic clusters: Wén 文 (Civil [statecraft], juan 1–3, 16 piān), Bà jì 霸紀 (Hegemonic Annals, juan 4–6, three piān on the Three Dynasties / Seven Hegemons / Three Kingdoms respectively), Quán yì 權議 (Deliberation on Expedients, juan 7, with seven piān), Zá shuō 雜說 (Miscellaneous Discussions, juan 8, 19 piān), and Bīng quán 兵權 (Strategic Power, juan 9, 24 piān). Each main essay carries a substantial autocommentary by Zhào Ruí drawing on a wide range of pre-Táng sources, sometimes preserving citations from texts now lost. Catalogued under Záxué zhī shǔ 雜學之屬 of the Zájiā 雜家 division.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Chángduǎn jīng in nine juan, composed by Zhào Ruí of the Táng. Sūn Guāngxiàn’s 孫光憲 Běimèng suǒyán 北夢瑣言 records that Ruí was a man of Yántíng in Zǐzhōu, broadly learned in tāoqián 韜鈐 (the Six Bow-cases and the Lock — i.e. the military and statecraft classics) and accomplished in statecraft; he and his wife both held to a recluse’s discipline and would not respond to the court’s summons. The Táng shū · Yìwén zhì likewise records him as Ruí, zì Tàibīn 太賓, a man of Zǐzhōu, summoned during the Kāiyuán era but not accepting — roughly agreeing with Sūn Guāngxiàn’s account, save that the title is given there as Chángduǎn yàoshù 長短要術*, evidently one work under two names.

The book throughout discusses the essentials of wángbà jīngquán 王霸經權 (kingship and hegemony, principle and contingency), and was completed in Kāiyuán 4 [716]. The author’s own preface says it has 63 piān in 10 juan, in agreement with the Táng Bibliographic Treatise and Cháo Gōngwǔ’s 晁公武 Dúshū zhì 讀書志. The text long lacked a printed edition; Wáng Shìzhēn’s 王士禎 Jūyì lù 居易錄 records that Xú Qiánxué 徐乾學 once obtained a Sòng print at Línqīng 臨清. The present copy bears at the front a Chuánshìlóu 傳是樓 seal and a Jiànān shōucáng túshū 健菴收藏圖書 seal, and at the back a Qiánxué 乾學 seal. At the end of each juan are seven characters reading Hángzhōu Jìngjièyuàn xīn yìn 杭州淨戒院新印 — clearly a Southern Sòng old printing, probably the very copy Shìzhēn mentioned.

The text however preserves only nine juan. At the end is a postface by Shěn Xīnmín 沈新民 dated Hóngwǔ dīngsì [1377], stating that the tenth juan, which carried yīnmóu jiā 陰謀家 (the “covert-stratagems school”), is now lost, and that 64 piān survive (note: this postface entirely cribs Cháo Gōngwǔ’s wording — the bookseller likely fabricated it). So one juan is missing yet one extra piān appears, conflicting with Ruí’s own preface’s count of 63 piān. Yet on inspection there are indeed 64 surviving piān — perhaps Ruí’s preface suffered a copyist’s slip.

Juan 1 has 8 piān titled Wén shàng 文上; juan 3 has 4 piān titled Wén xià 文下; juan 2 has 4 piān with sub-titles only and no overall heading — by parallel reasoning the missing words must be Wén zhōng 文中. Juan 4 has one piān titled Bà jì shàng 霸紀上; juan 5 has one piān on the affairs of the Seven Hegemons titled Bà jì zhōng 霸紀中; juan 6 has one piān on the affairs of the Three Kingdoms with no overall title — by parallel reasoning the missing words must be Bà jì xià 霸紀下. Piān 7 in juan 2 is titled Quán yì 權議; juan 8’s 19 piān are titled Zá shuō 雜說; juan 9’s 24 piān are titled Bīng quán 兵權; the yīnmóu of juan 10 is no longer recoverable.

The piān commentary is quite full and cites many ancient books — apparently the autocommentary of Ruí himself. Each piān opens either with the words “Yì yuē 議曰” (“My discussion holds:”) or without — the form is not uniform, and the reason is not clear. Liú Xiàng’s 劉向 preface to the Zhànguó cè says some recensions were titled Chángduǎn: this book analyzes the dispositions of affairs, and clearly issues from the zònghéng school, hence the name Chángduǎn. Although it adapts to circumstance and falls under the heading of shìgōng 事功 (utilitarian achievement) learning, its main thrust is practical use, not the deceitful schemes of the strategists; its words therefore do not run counter to the Ruist tradition. Its style approaches that of Xún Yuè’s 荀悅 Shēn jiàn 申鑒 and Liú Shào’s 劉劭 Rénwù zhì 人物志 — still showing the heritage of Wèi and Jìn. Táng compositions grow scarcer with the years; though we have lost a tenth, we should still treat it as a complete jade.

Respectfully revised and submitted, sixth month of the forty-second year of Qiánlóng [1777].

General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀 (note: 均 in the original is a typographical slip for 昀), Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. General Reviser: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.

Abstract

Zhào Ruí 趙蕤 (zì Tàibīn 太賓; fl. Kāiyuán era, floruit securely 716) was a Sìchuān recluse and polymath of Yántíng 鹽亭 in Zǐzhōu 梓州, an associate (Běimèng suǒyán says: friend) of the young Lǐ Bái 李白, who is reported to have studied with him before leaving Shǔ. Ruí was summoned to court by Xuánzōng during the Kāiyuán era but declined the appointment; he and his wife maintained a contemplative recluse household in the Chángpíngshān 長平山. The Chángduǎn jīng — also transmitted under the title Chángduǎn yàoshù 長短要術 (“Essential Techniques of [statecraft’s] Strengths and Weaknesses”) — is his only major surviving work and carries his own preface dated Kāiyuán 4 / 716, which fixes the composition.

The book is in the tradition of zònghéng 縱橫 statecraft anthologies, drawing on the Zhànguó cè, the Hàn shū, the dynastic histories, and a wealth of WèiJìnSuí zǐ-school writing. It is organized to lead the reader from wángdào 王道 (the kingly Way of moral statecraft) through bàdào 霸道 (the hegemonic way of expedient statecraft) to outright military and intelligence applications, with copious historical case studies on each principle. Each chapter combines essay-text and substantial autocommentary. The Sìkù editors emphasize that despite its surface affinity with the strategists, its real argument is that the choice between wáng and bà methods is contingent on historical timing — suíshí shèjiào 隨時設教, “instituting teaching according to the times” — a position they read as compatible with Ruist orthodoxy, and stylistically continuous with Xún Yuè’s Shēn jiàn and Liú Shào’s Rénwù zhì.

The dating bracket adopted here (notBefore 716, notAfter 716) follows Zhào Ruí’s own preface, which is internally dated to Kāiyuán bǐngchén / 4 = 716. The transmission has been textually messy: the original ten juan preserved 63 piān (per Ruí’s preface and the Táng zhì), but the surviving Sòng-print recension (transmitted via the Jìngjièyuàn 淨戒院 of Hángzhōu through Xú Qiánxué’s 傳是樓 collection to the SKQS editors) lacks juan 10 (the yīnmóu / “covert stratagems” chapter) and yet preserves 64 piān, suggesting either a slip in Ruí’s preface or in subsequent copying. The text is indispensable both for the history of pre-Táng statecraft theory and for the wealth of citations from now-lost military and political treatises preserved in Ruí’s commentary.

The work is recorded in the Xīn Táng shū · Yìwén zhì (under the title Chángduǎn yàoshù), in Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Jùnzhāi dúshū zhì 郡齋讀書志, in Chén Zhènsūn’s Zhízhāi shūlù jiětí 直齋書錄解題, and in Mǎ Duānlín’s Wénxiàn tōngkǎo 文獻通考. Modern scholarship sometimes labels it the Fǎn jīng 反經 (“Counter-Classic”) after a popular alternative name attached to the work in late-imperial editions.

Translations and research

No complete European-language translation exists. The text has attracted growing interest in modern China as a popular classic of móu lüè 謀略 (“strategic thought”), and is widely available in punctuated and annotated editions:

• Zhào Ruí 趙蕤, Chángduǎn jīng quánzhù quányì 長短經全注全譯, ed. Wú Jiā-jū 吳家駒 (Yuè-lù Shū-shè 嶽麓書社, 2003; multiple later printings).
• Zhào Ruí, Fǎn jīng 反經, ed. Mǎ Shù-lì 馬樹禮 et al. (popular punctuated editions, e.g. Tuán-jié Chū-bǎn-shè 團結出版社, 1996; Zhōnghuá Shū-jú).
• Wáng Tiān-hǎi 王天海 (ed.), Chángduǎn jīng jiào-zhù 長短經校注 (Bā-Shǔ Shū-shè 巴蜀書社, 1999) — the most useful modern critical edition.
• Lǐ Yáng-bīng 李陽冰 and other studies on the Lǐ Bái – Zhào Ruí connection appear in early-Táng biéjí and Lǐ Bái scholarship.

No substantive monograph in any European language is dedicated to the work; it is treated incidentally in surveys of Chinese statecraft thought and of the zònghéng tradition.

Other points of interest

The autocommentary preserves citations from a number of WèiJìn military and political works that are otherwise lost or fragmentary, making the Chángduǎn jīng a significant secondary source for the textual history of the early-medieval zǐ-school corpus. Lǐ Bái’s own studies with Zhào Ruí (reported in the Xīn Táng shū biography of Lǐ Bái, drawing on Wèi Hào’s 魏顥 preface) make the text additionally interesting for early-Táng intellectual biography.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào 四庫全書總目提要, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi, Chángduǎn jīng entry.
• Xīn Táng shū · Yìwén zhì; Jùnzhāi dúshū zhì; Zhízhāi shūlù jiětí; Wénxiàn tōngkǎo.
• Wikidata: Q11086681 (Changduan jing).