Study On The Rhetorics In The Stratagems Of The Warring States

During the Warring States (475-221BC), with the changeable situations, lots ofpolitical strategists who went around urging his ruler to adopt their political views withpersuasive eloquence was the most active power on the current political stage. Thesesmooth-tongued political strategists were always bustling among various kingdoms thatcoexisted on the ancient territory of China, expressing their political views freely on thecurrent political situation at the imperial courts, spreading embroidered stories andmalicious gossips, engaging in loose talks to stir troubles between kingdoms and devisingcampaign strategies that would control the situation in a rather eloquent, very voluble,quite wondrous way. The brilliant and splendid rhetorics have been recorded into theStratagems of the Warring States and are the main body part of Stratagems of the WarringStates. This thesis will base on the Stratagems of the Warring States and study on therhetorics.Three chapters constitute the whole thesis. Chapter one talks about the writingbackground of the rhetorics in the Stratagems of the Warring States. Firstly it will definethe rhetorics from the aspect of making philological studies of its original meaning.Rhetorics did not consummate in a short duration of time. Because the Book of historyand Zuo Zhuan had exerted a profound influence on the forming of rhetorics in theStratagems of the Warring States. On top of that, the troubled times, disputes between thewarring states and the emergence of the scholar which is a social stratum in ancient China,between senior officials and the common people were attributed a lot to the production ofrhetorics in the Stratagems of the Warring States.The main part lies in the second chapter, which explores the artistic glamours ofStratagems of the Warring States from the angle of the writing style. According to thespeech function of the rhetorics in the Stratagems of the Warring States, the rhetorics willbe divided into suggestion rhetorics, counseling rhetorics, argument rhetorics, satiricalrhetorics and other rhetorics. And the counseling rhetorics are studied by positive ones,passive ones and alienation ones.The third part is about the case study of two people’s classical rhetorics in ameticulous way. One is Lu Zhonglian(BC300一BC250), who was a famous civilianthinker, debater and an outstanding social activist. The other is Fan shui (? BC255), who was a well-known politician, military strategist and once was the prime minister (inancient China). As for the former, the thesis studies from his knowledgeaccomplishments to the style of his rhetorics. As to the latter, the thesis will start from hisextraordinary lobbying experiences. Then, the thesis will put priority on the strategist’scelebrated strategy--keeping friendly relations with distant states and attacking thosenearby. At last, it will analyse the traits of his rhetorics.In a word, the Stratagems of the Warring States is a masterpiece in prose, the rhetoricsin which demonstrate not only the history of that changeable political and militarysituation, but also the spiritual outlook of the strategists who went running among vassalstates. And the studies on the rhetorics in the Stratagems of the Warring States is the mainpurpose and task that this thesis committees to expect.