Huainanzi Study

This thesis is a general study on the author of Huinanzi, the background of the book, the origin of its thought, the literature achievements and research history. This dissertation makes efforts to give an objective comment to the great book Huainanzi.The first chapter is about Liuan himself and the book Huainanzi. We think it is acceptable that Huinanzi was compiled during dynasties of Hanjingdi and wudi(two emperors in Western Western dynasty).Liuan was not only the editor of Huinanzi, but wrote most of it. It is not right to think that Liuan took a crime of rebellion. The original intention of Huinanzi's compiling was to probe into the rule of the society, to find out the root of life's good or ill luck, happiness or misfortune, and to set up a systemic theory. The intention was made because of the time's thoughts in early Han Dynasty. And the thrive of the kingdom's culture promoted the motive.The second chapter is about the mixing of scholarship in early Han Dynasty and the production of Huainanzi. We think it right that Hanshu(the history of Western Han) determined Huinanzi as Zajia(杂家). Zajia was the scholarship's evolution from pre-Ch'in. It was a time when the scholarship mixed greatly in early Han Dynasty. Nearly all the thinkers in that time took a feature of mixing. The Confucianism and Daoism were the two main thoughts. Huinanzi was not only the up-bring of scholarship from pre-Ch'in, but also the result of the mixing in early Han Dynasty.The third chapter, the probing into the original thought of Huinazi, pointed out the documents that author used while writing Huinazi, by analyzing its citing to the books before. It was obvious that Huinanzi made a wide absorption to other scholar's fruits. Also, the analysis on Huinanzi'main thought proved that its thought was systemic, and had a visible feature of mixing.The fourth chapter, the literature achievements of Huinanzi, analyzed the main features in literature: keeping amounts of myths, high skill in the use of language. Huinanzi was a very important stage in the development of Piantiwen (骈体文) in the history of Chinese literature. It took the heritage of fables form pre-Ch'in. The article's structure was very complete, reflecting the progress of prose-writing in China's history.The fifth chapter, the history of study on Huinanzi, gave a general look-back to the study of Huinanzi since it's coming into being. The study in Han Dynasty was a foundational beginning. From Wei to Ming there was nothing important. Qing was the renaissance period, Minguo, the modern time, and after 1949, the booming time. Besides, the studies in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and in many places in the world, have made many achievements, are very inspiring.