A Note on the Translation

This book has been expertly translated by Edmund Ryden. The authors and editors went over a couple of drafts with the translator and did their best to iron out ambiguities. We generally stuck with standard translations for key terms, except that the term 王 (wang)—the political ideal of pre-Qin thinkers that contrasts with 霸 (ba, hegemony)—was translated as “humane authority” rather than the more common “sage king.” Obviously, Yan is not arguing for the reestablishment of a monarchical system led by one sage who would save the world with his moral goodness.