BOOK REVIEWS
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had time and again shown themselves to be inadequate for their tasks. His spectacular success as a reformer and adviser made him the hero of the writers of the time. It was probably for this reason that Kuan Chung is given full credit for authorship of the Kuan-tzu.
Some chapters of the Kuan-tzu have been translated into Western languages. Many of these translations represent little more than paraphrasing, while others contain serious defects. Only a few translations meet the standards of modern scholarship. In the light of these difficulties, Professor Rickett has translated twelve of the existing seventy-six chapters in the Kuan-tzu in order to aid the Western scholar who wishes to consult the Kuan-tzu as a reference source or desires an accurate translation of certain important sections of the original text. These twelve chapters show the wide variety of materials to be found in the Kuan-tzu. Each chapter constitutes a valuable document for the study of early Chinese thought and institutions.
The Kuan-tzu is especially noted for its wealth of materials on early Chinese economic theory and policy. Aside from the many economic references scattered throughout the work, there are the Ch'ing-chung chapters which focus specifically on economic matters. Ch'ing-chung, meaning 'light and heavy', refers to the government policy of controlling the supply of coins in circulation to maintain price stability in order to ensure an adequate supply of grain and other commodities. This policy has been regarded as one of the earliest applications of the quantity theory of money. The Ch'ing-chung section and several other chapters relating to economic matters have already been translated under the direction of Lewis Maverick, a professor of economics at Southern Illinois University (Economic Dialogues in Ancient China: Selections from the Kuan-tzu, Far Eastern Publications, Yale University, New Haven, Conn., 1954). These sections are not among the twelve chapters translated by Professor Rickett. Professor Maverick, not being a Sinologist, arranged for two Chinese to do the translation. Despite the extensive coverage of this work, it is unsatisfactory in many ways. Aside from mistakes due to carelessness or poor proof-reading, there are many omissions and errors in translation. Many scholars have taken a great interest in the economic content of the Kuan-tzu, and it is hoped that Professor Rickett will produce a more satisfactory translation of these chapters in the near future.