Title

Unifying Customs to Preserve Respect for Diversity: An Analysis of the Huainanzi’s Stance on Customs

Author

Li Qing-hao

Genre

Article

Pages

265-305

DOI

10.6503/THJCS.202406_54(2).0002

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

the Huainanzi 淮南子, the Honglie 鴻烈, qisu 齊俗, customs, Liu An 劉安, Han Dynasty

Abstract

The Huainanzi 淮南子 put forward the idea of “qisu 齊俗” (integrating customs) as a response to the issue regarding “the ideal way to coordinate different customs of the whole country.” However, an examination of the arguments advanced in the text reveals that it actually involves two stances: one concerns the coexistence of diverse customs, and the other is about the unification of customs under one umbrella; the former is referred to in this article as “respect for diversity” and the latter as “unification of customs.” In the mainstream view of later generations, the prevailing stance on customs in the Huainanzi is “respect for diversity,” and the concept of “unification of customs” reflects a misinterpretation of its ideas by scholars. The purpose of this article is threefold: first, to reveal the reality that the two stances on customs in the Huainanzi are concurrent; second, to further clarify the relationship between the two stances based on a proper examination of this reality; and finally, to explore the way in which these two stances were put into practice, with a special focus on the question of how “unifying customs” without domination could be implemented. This article argues that the Huainanzi’s stance on customs is to preserve “respect for diversity” through “unification of customs.” For this reason, to simply define the text’s stance as “unification of customs” or “respect for diversity” is likely to be biased.