126
D. LESLIE
annotated. The Lun Heng is over six times the size of Mencius and thirteen times that of the Analects (of which Waley's translation takes up 150 pages with 100 pages of comment). The task is clearly enormous. Until such time as a modern scholar can devote many years to this work alone, Forke's translation will remain indispensable.
Forke's "Introduction" (pp. 4-44) is still amongst the finest summaries of Wang Ch'ung's thought. It goes deeper than the wider-ranging general surveys of Chinese philosophy mentioned earlier, and consequently gives a more rounded picture of his contribution. The only comparable western summary is given by Li Shi Yi in his "Wang Ch'ung" T'ien Hsia Monthly 5, 1937, pp. 162-184, 290-307. After reading Forke, one may turn to the more specialised studies by Joseph Needham in his Science and Civilisation in China, Vol. II, 1956, pp. 368-386; and by myself on "Technical Vocabulary" (in my "Contribution" pp. 134-149); on Wang Ch'ung's biological ideas in "Early Chinese Ideas on Heredity" Asiatische Studien: Etudes Asiatiques 1/2, 1953, pp. 26-46; and on "Les Théories de Wang Tch'ong sur la Causalité" (to appear in 1964 in the Mélanges).
Since Forke's work appeared, several annotated commentaries to the Lun Heng have been published. The best is undoubtedly the 1938 Lun-heng Chiao-shih by Huang Hui. Unfortunately this is almost unobtainable. A second-best is the 1957 Lun-heng Chi-chieh by Liu P'an-sui, based on work up to 1932. Both include the comments by earlier scholars such as Yü Yüch and Sun Yi-jang; and both give, in extensive appendices, passages from the Chinese works throughout the centuries which mention Wang Ch'ung. However, Huang Hui not only gives a fully punctuated text, but also the pre-Han and Han parallels, rarely given in Liu P'an-sui's edition, but many of which had been found independently by Forke, who also gives a valuable list of Wang Ch'ung's quotations from earlier sources. Huang Hui also includes the brilliant essay on Wang Ch'ung's reasoning by Hu Shih.
There is no need to go into details about the many recent books and articles in Chinese on Wang Ch'ung, since Timoteus Pokora has dealt with them in his excellent, mainly bibliographical essay "The Necessity of a more thorough Study of philosopher
126
D. LESLIE
annotated. The Lun Heng is over six times the size of Mencius and thirteen times that of the Analects (of which Waley's translation takes up 150 pages with 100 pages of comment). The task is clearly enormous. Until such time as a modern scholar can devote many years to this work alone, Forke's translation will remain indispensable.
Forke's "Introduction" (pp. 4-44) is still amongst the finest summaries of Wang Ch'ung's thought. It goes deeper than the wider-ranging general surveys of Chinese philosophy mentioned earlier, and consequently gives a more rounded picture of his contribution. The only comparable western summary is given by Li Shi Yi 3 in his "Wang Ch'ung" T'ien Hsia Monthly 5, 1937, pp. 162-184, 290-307. After reading Forke, one may turn to the more specialised studies by Joseph Needham in his Science and Civilisation in China, Vol. II, 1956, pp. 368-386; and by myself on "Technical Vocabulary" (in my "Contribution” pp. 134-149); on Wang Ch'ung's biological ideas in "Early Chinese Ideas on Heredity" Asiatische Studien: Etudes Asiatiques 1/2, 1953, pp. 26-46; and on "Les Théories de Wang Tch'ong sur la Causalité" (to appear in 1964 in the Mélanges).
Since Forke's work appeared, several annotated commentaries to the Lun Heng have been published. The best is undoubtedly the 1938 Lun-heng Chiao-shih # by Huang Hui
.
Unfortunately this is almost unobtainable. A second-best is the 1957 Lun-heng Chi-chieh by Liu P'an-suiË. 論衡集解 based on work up to 1932. Both include the comments by earlier scholars such as Yü Yüch and Sun Yi-jang
; and both give, in extensive appendices. passages from the Chinese works throughout the centuries which mention Wang Ch'ung. However Huang Hui not only gives a fully punctuated text, but also the pre-Han and Han parallels, rarely given in Liu P'an-sui's edition, but many of which had been found independently by Forke, who also gives a valuable list of Wang Ch'ung's quotations from earlier sources. Huang Hui also includes the brilliant essay on Wang Ch'ung's reasoning by Hu Shih.
There is no need to go into details about the many recent books and articles in Chinese on Wang Ch'ung, since Timoteus Pokora has dealt with them in his excellent, mainly bibliographical essay "The Necessity of a more thorough Study of philosopher
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