Shiwei 士緯

Shiwei 士緯 "The junior officials' woofs" was a political text written during the Three Empires period 三國 (220-280) by Yao Xin 姚信, who lived in the empire of Wu 吳 (222-280). About his life, not much is known. He hailed from an eminent family and also wrote a commentary on the Yijing 易經 "Book of Changes".

According to the imperial bibliography Jingjizhi 經籍志 in the official dynastic history Suishu 隋書, his book was 10 juan long and was also known by the title Shiwei xinshu 士緯新書. The catalogue also lists a book called Xinshu 新書 "New book", with a length of 2 juan and written by "Master Yao" 姚氏. These texts were still known during the Liang period 梁 (502-557), but were already lost during the Tang era 唐 (618-907). The bibliographies in the histories Jiutangshu 舊唐書 and Xintangshu 新唐書 only list the Shiwei, with a length of 10 juan. This proves that the Xinshu was actually part of the Shiwei, but existed also in a separately circulating version.

Surviving fragments of it were collected by the Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Ma Guohan 馬國翰 (1794-1857). They are to be found in his series Yuhan shanfang yiji shu 玉函山房輯佚書.

The most important passages are critical statements about the Daoist scholar Yan Zun 嚴遵, the Confucian scholar Yang Xiong 揚雄 (53 BCE-18 CE) and the Confucian philosopher Meng Ke 孟軻 (Mengzi 孟子; 385-304 or 372-289 BCE).