the Fourfold Encounters of Records Grand Historian: Seeing All Beings - Stratagems School Diplomacy/史记四&

The Stratagems of the School of Diplomacy focuses on two chapters of the Records of the Grand Historian: the Biography of Su Qin and the Biography of Zhang Yi.¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿Although many of the brilliant persuasive speeches recorded in these chapters were likely composed by later rhetoricians of the Warring States period or even the early Han dynasty, they nevertheless authentically reflect the various circumstances and events that unfolded among the states during the process of the Qin unification. The Biography of Su Qin adopts the perspective of the six eastern states, while the Biography of Zhang Yi is written from the standpoint of the Qin state. These two chapters must therefore be read together and in dialogue with one another.Su Qin and Zhang Yi represent the quintessential figures of the School of Diplomacy in their era. Through their words, Sima Qian preserved a vast corpus of the rhetoricians' arguments, and through their life stories, he portrayed the reflections and actions of this group in a time of turmoil. These two biographical chapters also embody Sima Qian's own ideals, values, and literary vision. Viewed from the perspective of his aspiration to "establish a school of his own" (cheng yi jia zhi yan), their significance cannot be overlooked. Nevertheless, both men were dangerous figures; their cunning and deceit were sufficient to overturn states - and thus, questions of their moral merits are hardly worth discussing.¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿"¿¿¿¿¿"¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿Tan Musheng is a historian, writer, and Ph.D. candidate in modern Chinese history at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. A former senior editor at The Economic Observer and co-founder of Interface Media, he later founded the New Asia Humanities College. His lecture series on Chinese history has garnered millions of listeners online. He is the author of The Empress's Flight West and The Witchcraft Scandal That Shook Chang'an.¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿"¿¿¿¿¿¿"¿¿¿¿¿"¿¿¿¿¿¿¿"¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿