Lunheng

The Lunheng (Chinese: 論衡; pinyin: Lùnhéng; Wade–Giles: Lun-heng; literally: "discourse balance"), published in 80 CE, is a wide-ranging Chinese classic text containing critical essays by Wang Chong (27- ca. 100 CE) on natural science, Chinese mythology, philosophy, and literature.

The title Lunheng combines lun or "discuss; talk about; discourse; decide on; determine; mention; regard; consider" and heng "crosswise; balance beam; weigh; measure; judge; appreciate". English translations of the title include "Disquisitions" (Alfred Forke), "Critical Essays" (Fung Yu-lan), "The Balanced Inquiries" (Wing-tsit Chan), or "Discourses Weighed in the Balance" (Joseph Needham).

The received Lunheng comprises 85 pian "articles; sections; chapters" in 30 juan "scrolls; volumes; books", with more than 200,000 characters. Actually, 84 pian is more accurate because the text only contains the title of Chapter 44 Zhaozhi 招致.

Yang Wenchang (楊文昌) edited the first printed Lunheng edition, which was the basis for subsequent editions. Its 1045 CE preface notes that Yang compared 2 complete and 7 partial textual copies and corrected 11,259 characters.

"No commentaries to the Lun heng appear to have been written before the nineteenth century," write Pokora and Loewe (1993:311), which is unusual among Chinese classics. The first Lunheng commentators were Yu Yue (1821–1907), Sun Yirang (1848–1908), and Yang Shoujing (楊守敬, 1835–1915).

Based on internal evidence, Forke (1907:9) concludes the Later Han Dynasty Lunheng text "must date" from the years 76-84 CE. Chapter 38 (齊世 "The Equality of the Ages", tr. Forke 1907:480) says, "Our present sage and enlightened sovereign is continuing the blessings and the prosperity of the reigns of" Emperor Guangwu (r. 25-57 CE) and Emperor Ming (r. 58-75 CE), which implies the period of Emperor Zhang (r. 75-88 CE). Chapter 30 (講瑞 "Arguments on Ominous Creatures", tr. Forke 1907:372) notes it was completed during the Jianchu 建初 era (76-84 CE).

...
Wikipedia