§ 1. Huan K'uan and his Work
What is known of the author of the Discourses on Salt and Iron
and the origin of his work is summarized in the preface to the
hung-chih edition. This note, generally repeated in succeeding redactions,
was composed by a scholar named Tu Mu[72]
of Wu Chün[73]
in
the 14th year of the hung-chih[74]
era of the Ming dynasty (1501 A.D.),
by way of a tribute to his fellow licentiate in letters T'u Chen.[75]
"The Yen T'ieh Lun, consisting of 10 books in 60 chapters",
wrote Tu, "was composed by Huan K'uan, tzŭ Ts'ŭ Kung,[76]
a
native of Ju Nan,[77]
who served in the Han dynasty as the T'aishou-ch'êng[78]
of Lu Chiang.[79]
The debate on salt and iron is said
to have taken place in the shih-yuan[80]
era of the Emperor Chao
(86—81 B. C.). The recommended Worthies and Scholars,[81]
in response
to an Imperial summons and inquisition, petitioned that the official
monopoly of salt and iron in the Imperial commanderies and feudal
states[82]
be removed. A prolonged disputation ensued between them
and the Lord Grand Secretary[83]
the Yü-shih ta-fu, Sang Hung-yang.
The salt and iron control was nevertheless not [materially] relaxed.[84]
"During the reign of the Emperor Hsüan (73—49 B. C.), Master
Huan developed and expanded the subject matter [in the form of
a dialogue][85]
in order to establish a school of thought. The book
was engraved and printed in the Sung dynasty;
[86]
but due to the
lapse of many generations, it became gradually lost in transmission
and was little known to people. Master T'u of Hsin Kan,
[87]
while
in his second year of office at Chiang Yin,
[88]
found himself in a
position to give effect to his administrative policies and to turn to
numerous activities along hitherto neglected lines. In moments of
freedom from his duties in
renovating the people,[89]
he devoted himself
to editing this book. From his own means he had it printed,
so that students might enjoy the literature of the ancients in its
complete form. Master T'u undoubtedly had in mind the benefit to
his own age of the work's exposition of the principles fundamental
to good government; its disapproval of private profiteering showed
the way, moreover, how the state might be the gainer, for the advantage
of posterity".
The work of the Han literatus Huan K'uan is thus cast in the
form of a debate. This type of logomachy as a literary genre had
been already suggested, in more or less formal style, in writings
previous to Huan K'uan. Traditionally, the earliest of these might
be taken to be the "Counsels of the Great Yü",[90]
in its present
recension, part of the spurious text in "ancient characters", faked
by Mei Tsê[91]
in the 4th century A.D., and the "Counsels of Kao
Yao",[92]
part of the authentic text, of the Shu-Ching (Part I, chaps.
iii and iv).
The Mêng-tzŭ[93]
is largely in the form of dialogues. The work of
Hsün-tzŭ,[94]
the philosopher of the third century B.C., contains particularly
a debate (chap. XV) on military questions between himself
and the Lord of Ling Wu,[95]
the King of Chao[96]
presiding and occasionally
interjecting an observation. At the beginning of the Shangchun-shu[97]
occurs a brief debate,[98]
"On the reform of the law", an
imitation of a discussion on the advisability of adopting the clothes
of the Hu barbarians in chapter VI of the
Chan-kuo-ts'ê.[99]
In fact, the literature of the ante-Han period may be classified as
in the two categories of discourses and chronicles. The former is
represented by a large part of the Shu-ching, by the Kuo-yü[100]
and
the Chan-kuo-ts'ê[101]
; while the latter is exemplified by the Ch'un-ch'iu,
its three so-called commentaries, the Tso-chuan,[102]
the Ku-liang,[103]
and the Kung-yang.[104]
Even in the Tso-chuan, the novel method appears
of a debate by means of quotations from the Shih-ching,[105]
which
itself is in part antiphonal.[106]
This form becomes, one may say, a
literary obsession with Chinese writers beginning with Ch'ü Yüan's
Chiu Wen,[107]
and continuing with Ssŭ-ma Hsiang-ju,[108]
the Liang Tu
Fu[109]
of Pan Ku[110]
and their innumerable literary heritors.[111]
In Chapter XXI of the Shih-chi, a debate is described between the
scholars Yüan Ku,[112]
tutor of the Prince of Ch'ing Ho,[113]
and Master
Huang,[114]
on the question of whether Ch'êng T'ang[115]
and Wu Wang[116]
were justified in overthrowing the traditional tyrants Chieh and Chou.[117]
The discussion pointed ultimately to justification of regicide and
the name of the founder of the reigning house of Han, Kao Tsu,[118]
emerged. The presiding Emperor Wu-ti enforced the clôture to the
embarassing controversy by observing that "because one fond of
meat did not eat horse liver, did not indicate that he was without
a taste for delicacies; that is to say: because a scholar did not
discuss T'ang and Wu assuming imperial authority, proved [only]
that he was [discreet,] not stupid".[119]
Again in 135 B.C., Wu-ti submitted
to his council the question of the demands of the nomad
Hsiung Nu for a royal marriage alliance. Whereupon Wang K'uei
[120]
and Han An-kuo
[121]
debated the matter. The famous VIth chapter
of the
Shih-chi represents the Ministers and Scholars assembled before
the First Emperor of Ch'in, respectively offering their advice
as to the conduct of the Empire. These speeches appear
in extenso.
Thus an examination of literary material — and the examples
cited could be multiplied — reveals the innumerable harangues and
discussions of ancient China. From very early times obscure scribes
had employed the debate between Sovereigns and their ministers
as a literary artifice to express their own ideas.[122]
The record of debates
before the Throne from the Chou to the Han doubtless stimulated
Huan K'uan to produce a literary work in the complete style
of the debate. With a store of previous literary specimens cast in
the same mould, and the historical debate of 81 B.C. to record, it
is to be expected that he would employ this form. It thus fell to
Huan K'uan to provide this perfected stylistic medium in the
development of Chinese prose writings.
