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FOREWORD
TO
"THE COMPLETE WORKS OF HAN FEI TZŬ
WITH COLLECTED COMMENTARIES"

The Works of Han Fei TzŬ in the remote past had Yin
Chi-chang's Commentary[1] as mentioned in the Records of
Arts and Letters
in the History of T`ang.[2] The number of
the books was not recorded most probably because the
Commentary has been lost long before. During the Yüan
Dynasty (a.d. 1279-1367) Ho Huan said that Li Tsan's
Commentary[3] had been in existence. Yet Li Tsan's life and
work can no longer be traced. The edition which appeared
during the Ch`ien-tao period (a.d. 1165-1173)[4] of the Sung
Dynasty (a.d. 960-1279) bears no name of the editor.
Nobody has as yet disclosed the anonymity. All the quotations
and citations from Han Fei TzŬ's Works as found
in the T`ai-p`ing Imperial Library,[5] the Literary Works on
Facts and Varieties,
[6] and Classical Selections for Beginners,[7]
coincide with the text of the Ch`ien-tao edition. If so, the
anonym must have lived before the Sung Dynasty.

As regards these early commentaries, they do not
completely cover the whole works of the author, and,


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moreover, contain mistakes and errors. Nevertheless, these
pioneering efforts have proved exceedingly helpful to
scholars of recent times. Accordingly, I have juxtaposed
the various commentaries and from place to place interposed
my own viewpoints among them. In consequence, I have
compiled the present work, The Complete Works of Han
Fei TzŬ with Collected Commentaries,
in which the author's
text is largely based on the Ch`ien-tao edition whose errors
are corrected and hiatuses are supplied in accordance with
the contents of other editions.

Wang Hsien-shen.
 
[1]

[OMITTED].

[2]

[OMITTED].

[3]

[OMITTED].

[4]

During the reign of Emperor Hsiao-tsung.

[5]

[OMITTED].

[6]

[OMITTED].

[7]

[OMITTED].