| “Three Yan(languages)of Zhuangzi” is a common term in the study of Zhuangzi/the book Zhuangzi.The term refers to the three words in the Yuyan chapter of the Zhuangzi: yuyan,chongyan and zhiyan.The existent interpretations take the three words as three kinds of persuasive skills of Zhuangzi or three rhetorical styles of the Zhuangzi,neither of which,however,can be reasonable regarding the textual formation of the Warring States “Masters” books.With the close re-examination of the wording,structure of the Yuyan chapter as well as the intertextual writings in the Zhuangzi,it can be seen that the existent interpretations of the three words,which were accumulated in the pure reading and annotation tradition of the textual reception history,failed to identify their functions in the Warring States context.The misinterpreted “Three Yan(languages)of Zhuangi” are actually common speech acts with little originality in the sense of rhetorical arts.That they could be connected with either Zhuangzi or the Zhuangzi resulted from the impression the disciples of the Zhuangzian school forged by means of pedagogical strategies and structural writing.Therefore,the existent interpretations are seriously undermined.Rather than a theory of linguistic styles or linguistic philosophy,the identity of the Yuyan chapter is a piece of writing that assisted the scattered knowledge transmission activities in the late Warring States.The “word—argument” arrangement embedded in the Yuyan chapter triggered its prolonged hermeneutical problems,and the fundamental reason of these problems is the extinction of the vulnerable symbiosis of the Warring States “masters—disciples” oral pedagogical activities and writing.What the text itself and its hermeneutical problems reflect is the deeply-rooted historical change— whether writing was involved in social structural organization.The case demonstrates the complex functions of both literal meanings and structural meanings of the formation of ancient Chinese writings,which would be beneficial to improving the criticism of related studies and reading strategies of ancient texts. |
