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Robin D. S. Yates, in the blurb on the back of this thick volume, characterizes the Huainanzi as a text "long dismissedâ[euro] as a "miscellaneous work of little intellectual interest.â[euro] Doubtless this breezy characterization is meant to pique interest and encourage sales of this important new translation, but no serious student of Han politics or culture has ever regarded the Huainanzi as anything less than a major touchstone. Every synoptic history of Chinese philosophy or political thought discusses the work, as do several specialized studies, as duly noted (pp. 38-39). For that reason, it is a cause for great celebration that students of Chinese culture can now consult this complete translation, twelve long years in the making. Close comparison of its contents with those of other Han masterworks in translation--especially the Lüshi chunqiu , Jia Yi's Xinshu , and the Yantie lun , perhaps--can only heighten our appreciation of the riches of Western Han thought. The translators are moreover to be applauded for appending to their chapters helpful essays designed to situate the Huainanzi chapters within a broader discourse.
In the main, translation reviews proceed by quibbling about the translations under review. However, this past summer...