Oxford Chinese Thought Explaining and Illustrating the Laozi: The Earliest Commentaries on the Daodejing, (Paperback)

Although the ancient Chinese text <em>Laozi</em>--also known as the <em>Daodejing</em>--is highly popular worldwide, few Anglophone readers are familiar with the history of how the Chinese themselves have interpreted it. This volume aims to introduce students and general readers to the two earliest surviving commentaries on the <em>Laozi</em>, through translations that are approachable for non-specialists and can be read on their own. These two commentaries, the "Jie Lao" (Explaining the <em>Laozi</em>) and "Yu Lao" (Illustrating the <em>Laozi</em>), appear as two chapters in the book <em>Han Feizi</em>, traditionally dated to the 3rd century BCE. They are interesting not only for showing how at least one very early reader understood the <em>Laozi</em>, but also for what they may reveal about the state of the <em>Laozi</em> itself at that time, before it achieved the form of the text that is so famous nowadays. The book also includes original essays that explore the commentaries' relation to the rest of the <em>Han Feizi</em>, compare and contrast them with other <em>Laozi</em> commentaries, and analyze their place in the larger history of Chinese commentarial writing.

• Oxford Chinese Thought Explaining and Illustrating the Laozi: The Earliest Commentaries on the Daodejing, (Paperback)
• Author: Oxford University Press
• ISBN: 9780197514917
• Format: Paperback
• Publication Date: 2026-09-21
• Page Count: 248