Kuan Tzu vs Guanzi

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by EWC3, Sep 15, 2018.

  1. EWC3

    EWC3 (mood: stubborn)

    I much agree! Here is a story about why I came to that conclusion.

    Many years ago I was hunting the shelves of the Chinese historical economics section of the SOAS library in London (its about the most complete in the UK). I noticed that two books were shelved about 10 feet apart. One was Kuan Tzu by Lewis Maverick the other was Guanzi by Allyn Rickett.

    But they are both the same title, one in Wade Gillies - one in Pinyin!

    If you now turn to the Wiki entry (in pinyin) you find that the old 1954 scholarship from Maverick has apparently since been almost completely forgotten

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanzi_(text)

    Now Maverick I judge to have been a true scholar. When denied tenure (at UCLA as I recall) he took a lowly job at a local business school in order to carry on teaching. And he funded his publications out of his own pocket, including the very accessible translation of key passages from the Kuan Tzu.

    Others must judge from themselves - but I found the Rickett translation to be so literal it was almost incomprehensible and the edition I saw did not seem to even include key passages on economics.

    I can say more on this if anyone is interested. The word "maverick" itself derives from Maverick's grandfather, and from that I was able to track down his extended family, and ultimately corresponded with Lewis Maverick's son...............

    Recall that we are talking about a book on economics, and look at the extract Wiki thinks worth quoting from Rickett - its about meditation.

    Here from memory is a passage from the almost forgotten Maverick translation. It is a fundamental philosophy of tax collection:

    "People like to be given things, but they do not like to give things. Therefore, you should give to them openly, but take from them secretly"

    Rob T
     
    Orfew likes this.
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