| Wei Liaozi | |||||||||||||||||
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 First page of theWei Liaozi, from a 3rd-century-BC edition | |||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 尉繚子 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 尉缭子 | ||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Master Wei Liao | ||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese military texts |
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TheWei Liaozi (Chinese:尉繚子) is a text on military strategy, one of theSeven Military Classics of ancient China.[1] It was written during theWarring States period.[2]
The work is purportedly named after Wei Liao,[3] who is said to have either been a student ofLord Shang or an important advisor during theQin dynasty. However, there is little evidence to support either view. The only textual reference to Wei Liao outside of theWei Liaozi is in theRecords of the Grand Historian (Shiji), where he is cast as an advisor toQin Shi Huang, the youthful king of the state ofQin. Since the Wei Liaozi contains almost no actual strategy, it is thought that Wei Liao was a theoretician. Questions of authorship are further clouded by the fact that two different works of the same name appear to have been known during theHan dynasty. The work assumed its present form around the end of the fourth century BC. A new version of theWei Liaozi was discovered in 1972 at a Han dynasty tomb inLinyi. It is morephilosophical in tone than the received text, but differs significantly in only a few places.[4]
TheWei Liaozi frequently advocates both a civil and military approach to affairs. According to the text, agriculture and people are the two greatest resources of the state, and both should be nurtured and provided for. Although theWei Liaozi does not specifically mentionConfucianism, the text advocates a government based on humanistic values, in line with that school of thought. The ruler should be the paragon of virtue in the state. However, heterodoxy and other values not conducive to the state should be punished using draconian measures.[5]