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Ancient Chinese text noting the events of the Chinese warring states period

The Zhan Guo Ce (W G: Chan kuo T'se), also known in English as the Strategies of the Warring States or Annals of the Warring States, is an ancient Chinese text that contains anecdotes of political manipulation and warfare during the Warring States period (5th to 3rd centuriesBC). It is an important text of the Warring States period as it describes the strategies and political views of the School of Diplomacy and reveals the historical and social characteristics of the period.

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 many 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 Bibliography of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, but he provided no warrant for it. In 1931, Luo Genze put forward an argument that the book was composed by Kuai Tong 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 (, "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 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. According to James legg's translation of the book of rites it shares a story with a lost book of zhou mentioned in the rites.

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.

Crump, James I., Jr. (1970, 1996). Chan Kuo Ts'e. Oxford: Clarendon Press; revised edition, University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies. Crump, J. (2022). Legends of the Warring States: Persuasions, Romances, and Stories from Chan kuo Ts'e (Michigan Monographs In Chinese Studies Book 83). U OF M CENTER FOR CHINESE STUDIES. ISBN 978 0892641291
Hu, Mingyuan (2022). Oratory and Democracy in China: Four Dialogues from the Annals of the Warring States. London and Paris: Hermits United. Bonsall, Bramwell Seaton (1920s?). Records of the Warring States. (A typescript translation made while studying for a London University D. Lit.)