Zihuazi 子華子

Zihuazi 子華子 "Master Zihua" is collection of miscellaneous philosophical thoughts attributed to a certain Cheng Ben 程本 (4th cent.), also called Chengzi 程子 "Master Cheng", from the Zhou period 周 (11th cent.-221 BCE). Not much is known about him apart from that he served Marquis Zhao of the state of Han 韓昭侯 (r. 358-333).

A book of the title Zihuazi must have existed at that time but was already lost during the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE). There was, nevertheless, a relatively long book called Zihuazi in circulation during the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279). Chao Gongwu 晁公武 (1105-1180) rated it as a forgery, an assumption corroborated by Gu Jiegang 顧頡剛 (1893-1980) according to contradicting statements about the lifetime of Cheng Ben. The latter is said to have hailed from the state of Jin 晉 and was the teacher of Daoist Master Guiguzi 鬼谷子.

The received version of the Zihuazi has a length of 2 juan. It is, in spite of being a forgery, included in the series Miaomiaoge congshu 綿眇閣叢書, Bieliuzi quanshu 别六子全書, Zihui 子彙, Mohai jinhu 墨海金壺, Zhencong bielu 珍叢别錄, Ershi'erzi 二十二子, Wuzi 五子 (a print from the Hongzhi reign 弘治, 1488-1505, and one from the Jiajing reign 嘉靖, 1522-1566), Zishu baizhong 子書百種, the Daoist Canon Daozang 道藏, and the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書.