Shuoyuan 說苑

Shuoyuan 說苑 "Garden of persuasions" is a collection of short stories of persons from antiquity to the Former Han period 前漢 (206 BCE-8 CE). It was compiled by the imperial librarian Liu Xiang 劉向 (79-8 or 77-6 BCE). The original title of the book was Xinyuan 新苑 "New garden", and it contained 748 stories arranged in 20 chapters.

The stories centre on Confucian scholars and other persons belonging to philosophical schools or political advisors. They are arranged according to the theme of discussion, from the relationship between ruler and minister, estimating worthies and competent counsellors, to plans for strengthening the state and government or how to conquer inimical territory. The largest part of the stories are dialogues between an advisor and a ruler. Many of them are also preserved in other books, like the Guoyu 國語 and Zhanguoce 戰國策, but there are also some stories not to be found there. 16 stories date from the Han period, all others from the Warring States period 戰國 (5th cent-221 BCE).

The book was originally and is still classified as a Confucian treatise, but Liu Xie 劉勰 (c. 465-522) from the Southern Dynasties period 南朝 (420~589), author of the literary critique Wenxin diaolong 文心雕龍， interpreted the stories as of more literary character. The Shuoyuan was, therefore, in later ages often classified as a collection of short stories, ins spite of its rather historiographical content.

The stories were so famous that authors of later ages regularly quoted from the Shuoyuan. The imperial bibliography Jingjizhi 經籍志 of the official dynastic history Suishu 隋書 speaks of a length of 20 juan, while the bibliographical chapters in the two history books Jiutangshu 舊唐書 and Xintangshu 新唐書 indicate at a content of 30 chapters (if juan and chapter are corresponding). The last version might include the 10-juan long supplement Xu Shuoyuan 續說苑, which was written by Liu Kuang 劉貺 (early 8th cent.) during the Tang period 唐 (618-907).

The original version was already lost during the Song period 宋 (960-1279), but the scholar Zeng Gong 曾鞏 (1019-1083) reconstructed most of the missing parts based on quotations in other books. His reconstruction is 20-juan long and includes 678 stories. This is the received version.

The Shuoyuan is included in the series Han-Wei congshu 漢魏叢書, Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Baizi quanshu 百子全書, Sibu congkan 四部叢刊, Congshu jicheng 叢書集成 and Sibu beiyao 四部備要. The edition in the Sibu congkan was reprinted by the Shanghai guji chubanshe 上海古籍出版社 in 1990. There are modern commentaries compiled by Zhao Shanyi 趙善詒 (Shuoyuan shuzheng 說苑疏證) and by Liu Wendian 劉文典 (Shuoyuan jiaobu 說苑斠補).

There is a complete translation by Eric Henry. 2022. Garden of Eloquence / Shuoyuan 說苑. Seattle: University of Washington Press.