The Liezi's "Employing (Army) Formations" (⽤形) Entry

14 Pages Posted: 31 Jan 2026 Peking University - Law School Date Written: February 28, 2025 This parsing of the Liezi entry “ Employing (Army) Formations ” ( 用形 ), finished and first distributed in early 2025, further confirms: (i) Sunzi was an actual person whose full name was 叔孫武叔 , (ii) he was from the State of Lu and not the State of Qi as Sima Qian had provided, (iii) he lived at the same time as Laozi and Confucius and appears to have known both of them personally; (iv) while he was close to Laozi and considered a Daoist he did not see eye-to-eye with Confucius, who of course also was from the State of Lu; (v) he at one point was retained by the State of Qi; and (vi) he along with the other leading Daoists subsequently were misrepresented by the Han Dynasty Confucian historians. This entry also underscores the Liezi was written by Confucians in the mold of Xunzi, though the Han Dynasty Confucian historians listed it as a Daoist text. Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation United States Non-Western Philosophy eJournal Subscribe to this free journal for more curated articles on this topic East Asian History eJournal Subscribe to this fee journal for more curated articles on this topic