History

The author of Zhan Guo Ce has not yet been verified: it is generally deemed, after Zhang Xincheng, that the book was not written by a single author at one time. It is thought to have been composed by Su Qin and his peers before being obtained by Liu Xiang. Unlike most of the pre-Qin classics, the authenticity of Zhan Guo Ce, along with the Shijing, Mozi, Yulingzi and Gongsun Longzi had never been questioned since the Western Han period. The earliest to assert the texts were apocryphal scriptures was perhaps the compiler of the Annotated Catalogue of the Siku Quanshu, but he provided no warrant for it. In 1931, Luo Genze put forward an argument that the book was composed by Kuai Tong (蒯通) in his two papers based on six conclusions which he drew, a contemporary of Han Xin. Although this argument had been seconded by Jin Dejian (1932) and Zu Zhugeng (1937), but by 1939 it was refuted by Zhang Xincheng.

The six versions of written works from the School of Diplomacy were discovered by Liu Xiang during his editing and proofreading of the imperial literary collection. Those works of political views and diplomatic strategies from the School of Diplomacy were in poor condition, with confusing contents and missing words. Liu Xiang proofread and edited them into the new book under the title Zhan Guo Ce; it was therefore not written by a single author at one time.

Significant contents of Zhan Guo Ce were lost in subsequent centuries. Zeng Gong of the Northern Song Dynasty reclaimed some lost chapters, proofread and edited the modern version. Some writings on cloth were excavated from the Han Dynasty tomb at Mawangdui near the city of Changsha in 1973 and edited and published in Beijing in 1976 as Zhanguo Zonghengjia Shu (戰國縱橫家書, "Works from the School of Diplomacy During the Warring States Period)". The book contained 27 chapters, 11 of which were found to be similar to the contents in Zhan Guo Ce and the Records of the Grand Historian. That publication appeared in Taiwan in 1977 as the Boshu Zhanguoce (帛書戰國策). The texts were written in between the style of Seal script and Clerical script. The transcript was probably composed around 195BC before its burial, as the text tend to avoid using the word bang (邦), the personal name of Emperor Gao of Han, to circumvent naming taboo.

Content

The Zhan Guo Ce recounts the history of the Warring States from the conquest of the Fan clan by the Zhi clan in 490 BC up to the failed assassination of Qin Shi Huang by Gao Jianli in 221 BC.

The chapters take the form of anecdotes meant to illustrate various strategies and tricks employed by the Warring States. With the focus thus being more on providing general political insights than on presenting the whole history of the period, there is no stringent year-by-year dating such as that found in the preceding Spring and Autumn Annals. Stories are sorted chronologically by under which ruler they take place, but within the reign of a single king there is no way to tell if the time elapsed between two anecdotes is a day or a year.

The book comprises approximately 120,000 words, and is divided into 33 chapters and 497 sections. The twelve dynasties the strategies pertain to are:

Literary criticism

The intellectual aspects have been disputed due to its stress on fame and profit and its conflicts with Confucian ideology. The book appears to overemphasize the historical contributions from the School of Diplomacy, devaluing the book's historical importance.

The book does not emphasize the historical facts or fiction, but appears to be an extensive collection of anecdotes with little bearing to the chronological order of chapter and narration. Since the 12th century, it has been widely debated whether the book should be considered a historical documentation from writer Chao Gongwu and Gao Sisun, and there have been attempts to categorize the book into a different genus. This lasted until 1936 where scholars like Zhong Fengnian demonstrated that the book was written as a handbook of diction from the School of Diplomacy, and not intended to be a compilation of historical facts.

Translations

• Crump, James I., Jr. (1970, 1996). Chan-Kuo Ts'e. Oxford: Clarendon Press; revised edition, University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies.

編者

《戰國策》只知編者是漢代的劉向，原作者直到現在也沒有確定，大致上認為是非一時一地一人的作品。學者羅根澤認為，可能是蒯徹所作，羅根澤說：「《戰國策》始作于蒯通（蒯徹）；增補並重編者為劉向；司馬貞所見是否即劉向重編本不可知，今本則有殘闕矣。」

本書隨著戰亂，也散逸不全，到了宋朝，曾鞏又蒐羅闕文，加以重修。

題解

《戰國策》的文章原有《國策》、《國事》、《短長》、《事語》、《長書》、《修書》等名稱。西漢末年，劉向校錄群書時在皇家藏書中發現了六種記錄縱橫家的寫本，但是內容混亂，文字殘缺。因此，戰國策顯然不是一時一人所作。劉向依照國別體分類，並加以編修。劉向只是戰國策的校訂者和編訂者。而後高誘為之作註解。

北宋時，《戰國策》散佚頗多，經曾鞏「訪之士大夫家，始盡得其書」，並加以校補，是為今本《戰國策》三十三篇。，姚宏、鮑彪、吳師道皆有注本。

1973年，在長沙馬王堆三號漢墓出土了一批帛書，其中一部類似于今本《戰國策》，整理後定名為《戰國縱橫家書》。該書共27篇，其中11篇內容和文字與今本《戰國策》和《史記》大致上相同。

體例

今本共33卷。東周策1卷，西周策1卷，秦策5卷，齊策6卷，楚策4卷，趙策4卷，魏策4卷，韓策3卷，燕策3卷、宋衛策1卷，中山策1卷，共497篇。

所記載的歷史，上起前455年晉陽之戰（稍提到前490年智伯滅范氏），下至前221年高漸離以築擊秦始皇。

名篇

• 蘇秦以連橫說秦（成語前倨後恭的出處）

• 馮諼客孟嘗君（成語狡兔三窟、高枕無憂的來源）

• 趙且伐燕（成語鷸蚌相爭，漁翁得利的來源 )

• 鄒忌修八尺有餘（又稱鄒忌諷齊王納諫)

• 秦王使人謂安陵君曰（又稱唐雎不辱使命)

• 燕太子丹質于秦（又稱荊軻刺秦王)

文學風格

《戰國策》善於鋪敘，長於敘事，選取曲折生動的故事情節，緊湊生動，富戲劇性，喜誇張渲染，善用排偶，捭闔譎誑，辯麗恣肆，又善用比喻與寓言，諷刺幽默，說服力強。

《戰國策》亦善於描寫人物，抒發情感，部分篇章深沉蘊藉，委婉動人。

評價

《戰國策》一書反映了戰國時代的社會風貌，當時士人的精神風採，不僅是一部歷史著作，也是一部非常好的歷史散文。它作為一部反映戰國曆史的歷史資料，比較客觀地記錄了當時的一些重大曆史事件，是戰國曆史的生動寫照。它詳細地記錄了當時縱橫家的言論和事跡，展示了這些人的精神風貌和思想才幹，另外也記錄了一些義勇志士的人生風採。《戰國策》的文學成就也非常突出，在中國文學史上，它標誌著中國古代散文發展的一個新時期，文學性非常突出，尤其在人物形象地刻畫，語言文字的運用，寓言故事等方面具有非常鮮明的藝術特色。清初學者陸隴其稱《戰國策》「其文章之奇足以娛人耳目，而其機變之巧足以壞人之心術」。

《戰國策》的思想內容比較複雜，主體上體現了縱橫家的思想傾向，同時也反映出了戰國時期思想活躍，文化多元的歷史特點。《戰國策》的政治觀比較進步，最突出的是體現了重視人才的政治思想。《戰國策》一書是遊說辭總集，幾乎所有縱橫家謀士的言行都在此書。有三大特點：一智謀細，二虛實間，三文辭妙。

《戰國策》一書對司馬遷的《史記》的紀傳體的形成，具有很大影響。《史記》有九十卷的史料直接取自於《戰國策》的史料。但《戰國策》許多記載並不可靠，司馬遷在《蘇秦傳》後曰「世言蘇秦多異，異時事有類之者皆附之蘇秦」。《戰國策》歷來為研究者稱讚其文學價值，但是對它的思想卻是眾說紛紜。這是由于該書與後世的儒家思想不符，過于追逐名利。而且過于誇大縱橫家的歷史作用，降低了史學價值。

注釋